2 studs, 2 duds for Cavaliers in loss to Kings on Wednesday

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It was gut-wrenching to watch the Cleveland Cavaliers’ collapse down the stretch on Monday night in a loss to the LA Clippers.

In that outing, the third game of Cleveland’s current road trip, the Cavaliers found a way to pull ahead in the fourth quarter in what was mostly a back-and-forth affair leading into that, and with 4:37 left, they had a 12-point lead.

Unfortunately, the Wine and Gold hit a wall then, the offense hit a rut, and Paul George, Terance Mann and the Clippers climbed their way back and after a huge run, they went ahead, and found a way to win 119-117 over the Cavaliers. It was a rough finish to see as a Cavs fan, but on the plus side, the group had just won eight straight games, and on Wednesday night, they had a chance to get right back on track at the Sacramento Kings.

Things didn’t exactly play out that, was the thing. The Kings came out firing on all cylinders, and as has often been customary in the past few games, Cleveland wasn’t effective in the first half on defense; Sacramento had 69 first half points, and an 11-point halftime lead.

I do give the Cavaliers their credit, though. The Wine and Gold played with more urgency in the third quarter, and in the fourth, somewhat. At the end of the third, Cleveland was down by four, and despite a Trey Lyles three at the closing gun then, the momentum looked to have shifted.

Granted, again, the Cavs didn’t have the fourth quarter they’d have wanted, with how they closed the period, and turnovers and untimely fouls didn’t help. The Kings would eventually hit some big shots down the stretch, such as from Domantas Sabonis, Harrison Barnes and Kevin Huerter came to life then, and in the last few minutes, Sacramento had one more surge in them.

As a result, the Kings would go on to get the W 127-120, bringing them to 4-6 on the season, and the Cavaliers fell to 8-3.

There were a couple of guys who did stand out for the Cavaliers, however, and we’ll touch on those two next, before hitting on the two duds in the outing.