Cavs still searching after overtime loss to Kings
NBA champions have lost six of last eight games as Warriors bounce back
The NBA champions Cleveland Cavaliers’ struggles continued with an overtime loss to the Sacramento Kings on Wednesday as the Golden State Warriors got back on track with a victory over the Charlotte Hornets.
Not even a second straight triple-double from superstar LeBron James could lift the Cavs, who fell 116-112 and have lost their last three games and six of their last eight.
“Just try to get better,” was James’s prescription. “We’ve got to get better that’s all.
“We had our opportunities. It don’t matter who we go against, if they’re sub-. 500 or plus-. 500, we know we’re going to get everybody’s best, so we’ve just got to be better.”
The comments were tame compared to the tirade James delivered after Monday’s loss to the New Orleans Pelicans, calling the squad “top-heavy” and questioning management’s commitment to retaining the title.
Not appropriate
Cavs general manager David Griffin met with James about the outburst, saying it “certainly wasn’t appropriate from a teammate perspective”.
Although he and coach Tyronn Lue said the air had been cleared, the Cavs couldn’t reverse their fortunes on court in Cleveland. After Aaron Afflalo’s three-pointer with 30.8 seconds left in overtime put Sacramento up 115-112, James missed a three-pointer with 10 seconds remaining and Kings star DeMarcus Cousins capped the scoring with a free-throw with five seconds to play.
The Golden State Warriors,
Wednesday’s games:
Sacramento Boston Miami Atlanta Golden State Memphis Oklahoma City Philadelphia Dallas Portland 116 120 109 119 113 101 114 114 103 105 Cleveland Houston Brooklyn Chicago Charlotte Toronto New Orleans Milwaukee New York L.A. Lakers 112 109 106 114 103 99 105 109 95 98 in contrast, wasted no time in righting the ship after a shock loss to the Miami Heat on Monday. Led by Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry, the Warriors rallied in the fourth quarter to beat the Hornets 113-103 in Charlotte.
Durant scored 16 of his 33 points in the fourth quarter. NBA Most Valuable Player Curry added 28.
Spanish big man Marc Gasol scored a career-high 42 points to lead the Memphis Grizzlies to a 101-99 victory over the Toronto Raptors.
Gasol scored his team’s first 16 points of the contest, connecting on 14 of 25 shots from the field.