CLEVELAND — Interim Kings coach Alvin Gentry inserted Marvin Bagley III into his starting lineup to combat the size of the Cleveland Cavaliers, but there was nothing Gentry could do to combat his own team’s awful defense.
The Cavaliers raced out to an early lead and didn’t meet much resistance until it was too late, rolling to a 117-103 victory over the Kings on Saturday night at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. Gentry found himself answering for the same defensive deficiencies that have haunted the Kings for years, but he said they will find a way to fix it.
“We’re not quitters,” Gentry said. “I can tell you that right now. We’re going to keep battling our ass off and we’ll find a way to get through this. I can promise you that.”
Isaac Okoro scored 20 points on 7-of-9 shooting for the Cavaliers (16-12), who have won three in a row and seven of their last nine. Jarrett Allen had 19 points and 11 rebounds. Cedi Osman came off the bench to score 18 points. Darius Garland had 16 points, 13 assists and seven rebounds. Rookie Evan Mobley had 15 points and 15 rebounds.
Buddy Hield scored 21 points to lead the Kings (11-16), who lost for the second night in a row after dropping a heartbreaker to the Charlotte Hornets on Friday. Davion Mitchell had 14 points. De’Aaron Fox was held to 13 points on 6-of-14 shooting.
Gentry decided to start a bigger lineup to combat the size of the Cavaliers, whose frontline features the 6-foot-11 Lauri Markkanen, Mobley (6-11) and Allen (6-10). Gentry moved Harrison Barnes (6-8) back to small forward with Bagley (6-11) at power forward and Alex Len (7-0) at center.
That didn’t seem to help. Bagley had seven points on 3-of-10 shooting with seven rebounds in 22 minutes. Barnes had 12 points and three rebounds in 25 minutes. Len had five points and six rebounds in 24 minutes.
The Kings were shockingly bad in the first half. They fell behind 18-6 after missing 11 of their first 13 shots and trailed 81-52 at the halftime break, tying the mark for the fourth-most points allowed in a half in the Sacramento era. The Cavaliers shot 61.2% from the field, made 7 of 14 from 3-point range and converted 14 of 16 free throws, making Sacramento’s defense look like a layup line and laughing all the way to the rack.
Isaac Okoro went 5 of 5 from the field. Darius Garland went 5 of 8. Cedi Osman came off the bench to make 6 of 7 with four 3-pointers, scoring 18 points in 13 minutes.
“Obviously, it was an ugly, ugly first half,” Gentry said. “Our transition defense was atrocious. We didn’t get back.”
The Kings staged a 13-2 run to cut the deficit to 18 after getting a series of stops to begin the second half. They found themselves trailing by 27 again late in the third quarter, but the bench unit of Mitchell, Hield, Terence Davis, Chimezie Metu and Damian Jones came on to give Gentry a much better effort in the fourth.
Mitchell locked up Garland on defense and Hield started knocking down 3-pointers, propelling a 22-2 run for Sacramento. Jones threw down a spectacular and-1 dunk and completed the three-point play to cut Cleveland’s lead to seven with six minutes remaining, but the Kings wouldn’t get any closer. They still had a chance with three minutes to play, but Ricky Rubio made two big 3-pointers in the final 2:18 to help the Cavaliers close out the Kings.
“That was a really good team, especially on the transition,” Mitchell said. “They get out and run. They rebound the ball really well, so we made an adjustment in the second half, tried to, when we shoot the ball, don’t let everyone crash the boards. We needed to get back to stop their transition buckets, so I think we did a really good job in the second half with that.”
Gentry said the Kings continue to struggle with stopping penetration and preventing straight-line drives, something that has plagued this team since former coach Dave Joerger’s final season in 2018-19.
“It all starts from a resistance standpoint and I think it’s clear that we’re not doing a very good job of putting up resistance when guys are starting to drive,” Gentry said. “We’ve got to get to the point where we’re into the ball and we’re at least turning them, or we’re sending them on a flatline drive rather than a drive to the basket, and it’s something that we’ve got to continue to work on. I wish I could say you guys are wrong, but you’re not. It’s exactly what’s happening with our team, and some kind of way, we’ve got to get to a point where we guard the ball.”
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