CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – The Sacramento Kings rolled into Cleveland and crashed what was supposed to be the Cavs clinch party.
Zach LaVine scored 37, DeMar DeRozen 28 and Domantas Sabonis 27 to lead the Kings to a 120-113 win over the Cavs at Rocket Arena.
Here’s the top Wine & Gold nuggets from Sunday evening.
Party on hold – Not only did the Cavs lose, but the Celtics blew out the Wizards 124-90 t cut Cleveland’s lead to three games with four to play. “Just brutally honest, I didn't think our energy level was as high as I thought it would be considering we have the first seed kind of at stake,” Cavs head coach Kenny Atkinson said. “So I thought we were just, their energy and intensity level was higher.” A Cavs win or Celtics loss locks up the top spot in the conference for the Cavs.
Donovan down – Donovan Mitchell went down near the front row on the sideline after coming down the floor and was writhing in pain with 9:54 to play in the third quarter. Mitchell appeared to have his left ankle turn after inadvertently stepping on Keon Ellis’ foot under the Kings basket while heading out of bounds. “I had a discussion with him [about returning[,” Atkinson said. “I said, ‘listen, if it's even 5% where you're little weak or whatever, or it's bothering you, I said, you got to tell me so we can get you out. We got multiple games to try to clinch this thing, we don't have to do it tonight.’ And he said he was fine, felt fine.” After taking a few moments, Mitchell was able to get to his feet and limp off the floor to the locker room under his own power with a trainer by his side. “Never been better,” Mitchell said after the game while downplaying the potential to miss time. “I'm just going to let tomorrow be tomorrow and then go from there… Obviously I'm going to be smart, but figure out when it gets to it and be ready.” Mitchell returned to the Cavs bench and checked back in with 3 minutes to play in the third quarter and he played the remainder of the game. “I want to get the one seed and go from there,” Mitchell said. “If I'm able to go, I'm able to go and obviously little hobbled after the first adrenaline rush, probably the first, I don't know, five to 10 minutes. But I'm trying to win. I'm trying to win, trying to help my team win in way possible. I just bring energy and if I'm out there I can't have certain mistakes that I made.” Mitchell finished with 19 points to go with seven rebounds and six assists.
Missed one – The officials missed a review of LaVine’s made field goal with 46 seconds remaining that gave Sacramento a 118-111 lead. Replays showed the shot was released after the shot clock expired but was not reviewed. “I guess they missed it,” Atkinson said. “You can't review that, so too bad. I don’t know. We make errors, we make mistakes. They make mistakes. They're not perfect, so I'm not going to make a big deal out of it. That's not why we lost the game.”
Giving it away – The Cavs were sloppy with the basketball again Sunday. The Kings turned 16 turnovers into 37 points.
Fit to be Ty-ed – Ty Jerome returned after missing the last five games. “Just that tendonitis just had a lot to calm down a little bit,” Jerome said. “Let of swelling go down and stuff like that. But I feel good now.” The Sixth Man of the Year candidate score a team-high 20 points off the bench, including 10 in the fourth quarter.
Plus-minus – Of the 10 players that played only three registered a positive in the plus-minus category – Max Strus, Issac Okoro and Dean Wade. The Cavs were a -28 in the 22 minutes De’Andre hunter played. “I'll have to dive deeper into it, but it happens,” Atkinson said. “I'm not going to sit here and say who had a bad game or anything? Get a look at the film before I make a fair judgment. What did the four guys around them look and how do we execute, all that stuff.”
Tough chuckin’ – Cleveland struggled from beyond the arc once again hitting just 10 of 38 from three. Mitchell and Darius Garland combined to shoot 2-13 from downtown.
Starting 5 – Atkinson started Darius Garland, Donovan Mitchell, Evan Mobley, Max Strus, and Jarrett Allen.
