Recap: Cavs 120, Kings 108 (or, Shuffle Up And Deal)

When does one King beat a handful of them? When he’s surrounded by Aces of course… shooting aces in this case. After a pair of bad beats in the middle of their six game road trip, the Cavs got back on a winning streak in front of a full house against the Kings of Sacramento. Coach Ty Lue decided to shuffle the deck for this one, drawing his Shump card into the starting five after discarding DeAndre Liggins to the second unit. He also had an ace up his sleeve, with a plan to get Kyle Korver some additional open looks. Then, it was up to the King to deal out a straight flush of diamonds to his club… and he equalled their total from the previous game all by himself. Though the Cavs almost let Sacramento suck out an upset on the turn into the fourth quarter, their hot hands left the Kings no option but to read ’em and weep in the end.

The Game

The Cavs played their usual early card with some designed plays for Kevin Love. Kev, who is third in the NBA in first quarter scoring (9.9 points) did nothing to hurt his average by notching nine of the team’s first 10 points (he finished the quarter with 11 points and seven rebounds). Then it was Kyrie’s turn to flash his hand, driving in for a pair of layups. But the surprise payoff came from Ty Lue shuffling Iman Shumpert into the starting lineup, as Shump made all three of his shots (all triples) off of assists dealt by LBJ and Kyrie. Then LeBron lost his cool with the officials following an obvious goaltend by Rudy Gay that went uncalled on one of his attempted layups…

https://vine.co/v/53e05Ear79P

Still the Cavs were able to close out an extremely productive first quarter, up 17 points on their hosts, 32-15.

The Kings and Cavs traded buckets of both the short and long range variety to start the second quarter, but Cleveland was eventually able to push the lead out to 21 on Kyle Korver’s first made three in a Cavalier uniform. Yes, the dude also known as “Threezus” finally lived up to his nickname in his third game for the wine & gold, knocking down the first of his four triples on the night after starting his Cavs’ career 0-6 from deep. Here’s that first one in all its’ glory…

https://vine.co/v/53elFi50lat

The Kings cut the deficit in half with a DeMarcus Cousins hot streak, but Threezus came back to match it with a seven point run of his own. By the end of the half, the Cavs not only had regained an 18 point advantage at 61-43, but every starter was also at least +17, and Korver had joined Kyrie and Kev in double figures with LBJ and Shump just a point away with nine each.

Though it had the makings of an easy knockout, the Kings decided not to fold easily… and the Cavs indulged that notion. Every time the Cavs seemed to be on the verge of blowing the game open, they’d make a careless turnover, or decide not to close out on a perimeter shooter and allow a wide open three to the likes of Rudy Gay and Darren Collison. Halfway through the third, Kyrie started an 11-0 run with a fastbreak and-one that came off of a terrific LBJ block and KLove outlet pass. He followed that three point play with two deep threes to push the Kings to the brink. But, Gay helped Sacramento chip away at the lead to trail by just 10 after three, 84-74.

Rudy continued his assault to start the fourth, and got some help from wild card, Ty Lawson, off the bench. Neither player seemed to miss, as they were able to cut the lead down to just six with just over nine minutes to play. While both teams had mostly abandoned defense at this point, fortunately the Cavs’ sharpshooting aces were even more locked in than their counterparts. With deep bombs arriving from Korver, Richard Jefferson and Channing Frye, the Cavs were able to regain and maintain their 10-12 point cushion. Then LeBron continued picking apart the porous Kings’ defense with sublime dimes, and hockey assists like this one…

LeBron dishes out 15 assists vs Kings, including this work of art to Kyrie (w/ hockey assist for Love)#DefendTheLand pic.twitter.com/INKvgE4eqh

— NBA.com (@NBAcom) January 14, 2017

The rediscovered offensive movement and rejuvenated shooting touch helped the Cavs seal the deal in the Golden1 Arena, as they were ultimately able to outscore the Kings, 120-108. The final bucket came from Kay Felder, who at long last got his :45 of run in garbage time.

The King

Like a good card sharp, LeBron James was patient in getting a read on his opponent in this game before revealing his own hand. He knew his bigs would have their hands full trying to contain the Boogie man on this Friday the 13th, so he waited for his aces to show up. They did so in spades when LBJ started to deal the rock to them, and the King tied his season high with 15 assists on the night (the same number the Cavs had as a team in their previous game against Portland). It was also the most dimes LeBron has ever had in a game on the road. He didn’t look to force his own shot (taking just 12 and making half of them), but rather let the game come to him, while setting up his guys and getting them going. When arguably the best passing forward in the game is out there with four guys who can flat out rain threes, it’s a scary proposition for any defense, let alone the near non-existent one that Sacramento sports. Though he played a game high 42 minutes (ironically the same amount of time he played in his first game as a rookie against Sacramento), they seemed to carry a lower impact threshold, given his role as the primary facilitator. His low number of shots, points (16) and rebounds (two) likely aided his stamina. He might have put himself more at risk for a strained hammy by jumping up and down complaining about the obvious uncalled goaltend… but he still had enough energy for this royal flush in the second quarter…

https://vine.co/v/53inWjBbYDU

The Aces

There were times when LeBron shared the floor with Kyrie, Channing Frye, Kyle Korver and either Richard Jefferson or Shump, and there was literally nobody in the paint from either team. If this Cavs offense was a Madden 17 play… it would be Streaks. This is the threat level of having so many Ace shooters on this team… there will almost always be a couple that are hot. Against the Kings, the Cavs didn’t just have rockets though… they had four of a kind.

Kyrie led the team in scoring in this game with 26 points on 10-22 shooting… which seemed odd to me after the fact because I honestly didn’t remember him scoring that much. Nine of them came on the two minute flurry in the third quarter, and most of the rest just came in the flow of the game. Uncle Drew was just 2-7 from deep (both of the makes coming in that same third quarter burst), but also did a decent distribution job with five dimes. His shot isn’t all the way back to where it was before the hammy issue, but it’s getting closer.

Kyle Korver had his Koming out party… not only knocking down his first trey for the Cavs, but kicking in three more, and a few from inside the arc for good measure. Keep in mind, the dude still hasn’t had the benefit of a full practice with his new teammates yet… and had only one shootaround session earlier in the day to try to get acclimated. In all, he went 7-10 (4-6 from downtown) for 18 points in just 25 minutes off the bench. Maybe even more impressively, however, was that he was also an ace on the boards with five, and used his hustle to play some solid defense with a couple of steals (he even stripped Boogie on one roll to the rack).

In only his second start of the year, Iman Shumpert made Coach Ty Lue look like a genius (and this genius look like a dope). After two weeks of regressing to the mean, diluting a strong start to the year with his shooting stroke, it turned out a shuffle to the starting five was just what Shump needed to get going again. He absolutely nailed his first three shots (all from downtown), and wound up 6-9 from the field (including a Korver-esque 4-6 from deep). In playing with the first unit, he was free to focus almost exclusively again on being a true three and D guy, instead of trying to be as much of a ballhandler and backup PG. The only downside was that he sometimes left his man open on the perimeter to double Cousins, but his hot shooting made up for that.

Shumpman Up to Something tonight!
Peep all three of these #CavsKings buckets he dropped in Q1: https://t.co/zl410RrHQr

— Cleveland Cavaliers (@cavs) January 14, 2017

Channing Frye might wind up having a few less shots with Kyle Korver in the mix, although the ones he will have are going to be that much more wide open. Once the Cavs have an opportunity to have a full practice or two, CFrye and Threezus might become nearly unstoppable offensively (especially when they run that scissor screen). Tonight, Channing was 3-7 overall and 2-5 from beyond the arc for 10 points. His quick hands also netted three steals.

The Jacks

On many nights, Kevin Love would be found in the Aces category given the shooting ability he’s put on display this season. In fact, this game started out that way, with Kev scoring nine of the Cavs’ first 10 points on some aggressive moves around the hoop and a three ball. After his 11 first quarter points, however, he scored just four more the rest of the game, and shot 6-16 overall (1-6 from deep). That didn’t stop him from contributing in other ways, as he became a Jack of all trades, hauling in a season high 18 rebounds.

Tristan Thompson had the unenviable task of trying to contain the nightmare that is DeMarcus Cousins. The Boogie man still got his 26 points, eight boards and 11 assists, but Canadian Dynamite Jackhammered him enough to make Cousins have to work hard for his stats. Though he only wound up with four rebounds of his own, TT kept Boogie occupied so guys like Kev could clean the glass. He also had two blocks, two steals and nine points. If there’s one thing Tristan needs to work on, though, it’s his performance at the line.

DeAndre Liggins seemed to take his demotion from the starting lineup in stride, although he struggled a bit as the de facto back up PG on the second unit. Ligs didn’t score, but he did draw another excellent charge and still chipped in with some D.

The Evil

• As recovered as the offense seemed after a couple of nights of struggle, the defense still left something to be desired for the Cavs. After shutting down the Kings in the first quarter, they wound up allowing them to shoot 53% for the game. In similar fashion to the start of the road trip against the Nets and Suns, the Cavs got lax and took their foot off the gas a bit defensively in the second half, giving up 65 points after allowing just 43 in the first half.
• The Cavs lost the battle for points in the paint 52-34. A lot of that was Boogie and Gay.
• As much as having Shump in the starting lineup seemed to help his confidence, the downside is that it took away at least a semi-reliable ball handler as a “backup PG” from the second unit.

The Genius

• Ty Lue pushed the right buttons with the lineups and rotations to resuscitate the offense in this game. He also started to unleash some of his “Ray Allen plays” and “JJ Reddick plays” for Korver from his days with Doc in Boston and L.A. There were obvious and successful executions of the pin-down screens that popped Threezus free for shots.
• LeBron is a devastating trigger man when deployed with this many shooters… and this is without the benefit of any sort of comprehensive practice session for going on three weeks. Just imagine what the devastation that could be unleashed after the All-Star break… or once J.R. is back.
• Defensive issues aside, the Cavs did force 21 turnovers and outscored the Kings 24-6 on the fastbreak. They also had 27 assists after struggling to move the ball against Utah and Portland.
• LeBron’s throwback kicks to his rookie season are awesome… and probably the reason why Shump shot so well (according to LBJ anyway).

Luck Of The Draw

As far as tune up games go, this one did what it needed to… get the Cavs ready for a rematch with Golden State to finish the longest road trip of the season. As fate (and the NBA) would have it… the Cavs and Warriors meet again on Monday for the MLK Day holiday. The Cavs are at an almost identical win ratio as last season (29-10 vs. 30-11), yet the vibe is completely different from the foreboding one the team had last year. Much of that is due to not only the Finals win, but also the more recent Christmas Day outcome. Win or lose, this game will probably be talked about until June (or until one of these teams is unexpectedly upset prior to that). Given how well the King and his shooting Aces showed out against the Kings, they could make life difficult for the Warriors and their collective psyche. On the other hand, unless they have some defensive cards up their sleeve, it could be a long evening by the Bay. Let’s hope they’ve got the deck well stacked for Monday…