|
 Point guard Isaiah Thomas scored 26 points and forward Rudy Gay
added 20 as the Kings won three straight for the first time since
Dec. 5-8, 2012.
"We're helping each out on the defensive end, we're playing
unselfish offensively," Thomas said. "I think the biggest thing is
we're playing for each other, not just with each other.
"The last three games we've been playing for each other, trying to
do whatever it takes to help that next man be the best he could
possibly be."
Center DeMarcus Cousins had 16 points and 11 rebounds for the Kings
(13-22), while guard Jimmer Fredette and forward Derrick Williams
scored 13 apiece.
Guard C.J. Miles led the Cavaliers (13-24) with 14 points. Forward
Luol Deng added 12 points in his second game since coming to
Cleveland from the Chicago Bulls in a trade. Forward Earl Clark had
11 points, and center Anderson Varejao had 10 points and seven
rebounds for the Cavaliers, who had their two-game winning streak
snapped.
"I give Sacramento credit," Cleveland coach Mike Brown said. "They
came out and they stuck with whatever they were trying to do at the
beginning of the game in terms of their assertiveness defensively.
They had the ability to shoot the ball from the perimeter
offensively. We just aren't in the competitive spirit to defend on
the road. It just wasn't there."
The Kings matched their third largest margin of victory in franchise
history at 44 points. They set a season high for points, scoring one
more than they did in a 123-119 win against Portland on Tuesday. The
Kings also established a season best for points allowed, giving up
three fewer than they did Friday in a 103-83 win against Orlando.
What's changed defensively?
"I would say the effort, the communication, and just wanting to
defend," Cousins said. "I really feel like that meeting helped us
out a lot. I feel like some guys were holding a lot of stuff in. We
were able to get it off our chest. We've been playing some good
basketball since."
Cavaliers guard Kyrie Irving was coming off a 25-point game Friday
night in a 113-102 victory against the Utah Jazz, but he had just
seven points on 3-for-14 shooting Sunday.
Thomas rebounded from a rough game Friday night when he scored only
nine points on 2-for-13 shooting against Orlando. He made 7-of-15
shots from the field and 10-of-11 from the line against Cleveland.
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"I just wanted to be aggressive, just try to make plays,"
Thomas said. "Last game, when I was missing shots, I just wasn't
as aggressive."
The Kings opened the third quarter on a 27-8 run, pushing their
nine-point halftime lead to 28 points at 86-58 with 3:15 left.
Gay had nine points in the run, making a pair of 3-point shots,
and Thomas had seven. Gay's second trey in the spurt gave
Sacramento a 70-53 lead. Cleveland closed to 70-58 on Miles'
3-point shot with 7:06 left in the period, but the Cavaliers
didn't score again until the 1:12 mark.
"We weren't making shots today," Deng said. "We have to be
better and we need to understand the way the game is going. We
got whatever we wanted in the first half, but in the second half
we should've recognized what was going on. We should've focused
on our defense a lot more."
After Miles' trey, Cousins and Gay answered with back-to-back
three-point plays, giving Sacramento a 76-58 lead with 6:40 left
in the period.
By the end of the third, the Kings owned an 89-61 lead.
"Honestly I think the only thing that the player meeting really
did was got us to really trust each other and do away with the
petty stuff, the selfish play," Gay said. "The player meeting to
me was a way for the team to become adults. We've became adults
these couple games and we're playing like it."
NOTES: Kings rookie G Ray McCallum, a second-round draft pick,
was assigned Sunday morning to the Reno Bighorns, Sacramento's
affiliate in the NBA Development League, but the team had second
thoughts and quickly rescinded the move. "He never left. He's
like Elvis. He never left the building," Kings coach Michael
Malone said before the game. Malone said the Kings decided to
keep McCallum because the Cavaliers "like to play a lot of small
ball" with three guards in the lineup, and McCallum is one of
Sacramento's "better perimeter defenders." ... Malone, an
assistant coach for the Cavaliers under Cleveland coach Mike
Brown for five seasons from 2005-2010, faced Brown for the first
time Sunday as a head coach. "I wouldn't be where I'm at without
him," Malone said. Brown said "it means a lot" to him to have
his former assistant land a top job in the league. "He's a guy
that's worked his tail off," Brown said. "He's been around the
game his entire life, and he's ready for it."
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