Cavs fall flat in second half, lose to Kings 107-104

By Zac Jackson
FOX Sports Ohio
October 30, 2010

CLEVELAND -- It started with the Cavaliers dominating a track meet. It ended with the Cavaliers missing everything, the Kings bombing away and a very quiet Quicken Loans Arena crowd.

The final was Kings 107, Cavs 104, with the visitors overcoming a 14-point halftime deficit. The Cavaliers scored 34 points in the first quarter...and 34 points in the first 23:52 of the second half.

"We stopped running, stopped attacking," Cavaliers head coach Byron Scott said. "They started to make everything."

The Kings didn't miss many, shooting 52 percent for the game. Tyreke Evans led with 21, while Omri Casspi's 20 included 6 3-pointers.

The Cavaliers are 1-2 and on a two-game losing streak because they, amongst a handful of things, don't have a go-to guy, have been terrible in the third quarter and Scott says they're struggling with communication at the defensive end. Casspi getting 6 3-pointers and Beno Udrih going for 12 points and 11 assists would speak to that.

They haven't been consistent, either. Ramon Sessions scored 8 of the Cavaliers' first 18 points Saturday and had 14 and 3 assists at halftime, bouncing back from his 1-of-10 shooting disaster in Toronto Friday night. He finished with 21 and didn't have an assist in the second half. He was on the bench down the stretch as the Cavaliers needed 3-point shooters on the floor in scramble mode.

Antawn Jamison was on the bench for the stretch run, too. He shot 1-of-7 and had 2 points in 18 minutes.

Daniel Gibson picked up for Sessions and scored late, but the Cavaliers never got the momentum back.

"It's a process," Scott said. "It's only the third game. We have a long way to go and a lot to learn about ourselves as a basketball team."

The Kings wasted little time asserting themselves in the second half, cutting a 67-53 halftime deficit to 4 points in the first six minutes of the second half. They tied the game late in the third on a DeMarcus Cousins putback and took the lead, 82-80, on a pair of free throws by ex-Cavalier Darnell Jackson.

With five minutes left in the game Cousins barrelled down the lane, got J.J. Hickson to bite on a pass-fake and delivered a monster dunk to make it 105-94. Fans started leaving shortly thereafter. Gibson scored five straight points to make it interesting, just not interesting enough.

With Sacramento up by 3, Casspi missed a pair of free throws and Anthony Parker rebounded for the Cavaliers with 5.9 seconds left. Following a timeout the Kings chose to foul rather than let the Cavaliers try a 3-pointer, and Jawad Williams made the first but intentionally missed the second. Cousins rebounded and split two free throws at the other to end to provide the final margin as Gibson's desperation heave at the buzzer missed.

The Cavaliers will need Sessions and Gibson to keep contributing even though Sessions is likely headed to the bench when Mo Williams returns, which Scott said will be Tuesday vs. Atlanta.

Anderson Varejao, whom the Cavs clearly missed when he missed the game in Toronto due to a family matter, had 8 points and 9 rebounds. Hickson scored 15.

The loss snapped the Cavaliers eight-game win streak over Sacramento.