GAME THREAD: GAME THREAD: NBA: CLEVELAND (2-3) at SACRAMENTO (1-3)

NBA: CLEVELAND (2-3) at SACRAMENTO (1-3)

<h3>James, Cavaliers look to rebound against struggling Kings</h3>

<div class="pre">Cleveland (2-3) at Sacramento (1-3) 10:30 pm EST</div>

SACRAMENTO, California (Ticker) -- The road hasn't beenparticularly nice to LeBron James and crew.


James and the Cleveland Cavaliers look to even their record whenthey face the struggling Sacramento Kings on Friday.

Cleveland, which is in the midst of a six-game western trip, hasdropped two of three to begin the road trek.


The Cavaliers dropped a 103-101 decision to Utah on Wednesdaywhen the Cleveland defense allowed Jazz point guard DeronWilliams to go coast to coast for a layup with no time left toseal the victory.


James, who drilled the game-tying 3-pointer to knot the contestat 101-101, finished with with 32 points, 15 rebounds and 13assists - his 11th career triple double.


The defending Eastern Conference champions have looked sluggishto start the year, with James shooting an underwhelming 43percent for the floor and 64 percent from the free throw line.

Their opponent, the Kings have looked worse, suffering threeblowout road losses before finally corralling a 104-98 victoryin their home opener vs. Seattle on Tuesday. Kevin Martin scoreda season-high 31 points for Sacramento, which trailed by 13before rallying for the victory. In the three previous losses,the Kings were down by more than 20 at halftime in each game.

Cleveland has won two straight and three of four Sacramento, butthe Kings have won 10 of 14 vs. the Cavaliers.

 

My Game Preview for Cleveland Cavaliers @ Sacramento Kings, Friday November 9, 2...

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<p align="center"><font face="Verdana">November 9, 2007 @ 10:30pm EST
ARCO Arena, Sacramento, CA
ESPN
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<p align="center"><font face="Verdana">
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<p align="center"><font face="Verdana" color="#7d4b9e">Sacramento Kings
(1-3)</font></p>
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<p align="center"><font color="#b90456"><font face="Verdana">Cleveland Cavaliers
</font><font face="Verdana">(2-2)</font></font></p>
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<h4 align="center"><font face="Verdana">Projected Starters</font></h4>
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<p align="center"><font face="Verdana"></font> <font face="Verdana">
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<font face="Verdana"><font size="2"><font color="#7d4b9e">PGKevin MartinSG Francisco Garcia

SFJohn SalmonsPFMikki MooreC Brad Miller
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</font><font color="#7d4b9e"><font face="Verdana"><font face="Verdana"></font> <font face="Verdana"></font> <font face="Verdana"></font></font></font></p>
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<p align="center"><font face="Verdana"></font><font face="Verdana"></font>

<font face="Verdana" color="#b90456" size="2">PG Daniel Gibson SG Aleksandar Pavlovic

</font><font face="Verdana" color="#b90456" size="2">SF LeBron James PF Drew Gooden C Zydrunas Ilgauskas
</font><font color="#b90456"><font face="Verdana">
<font face="Verdana"></font><font face="Verdana"></font><font face="Verdana"></font></font></font></p>
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<h4><font face="Verdana">Last Season Stats</font></h4>
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<td class="strong"><font face="Verdana" color="#7d4b9e">Scoring</font></td>
<td><font face="Verdana">101.3PPG</font></td>
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<td class="strong"><font face="Verdana" color="#7d4b9e">Field Goal %</font></td>
<td><font face="Verdana">45.0%</font></td>
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<td class="strong"><font face="Verdana" color="#7d4b9e">3-Point %</font></td>
<td><font face="Verdana">35.0%</font></td>
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<td class="strong"><font face="Verdana" color="#7d4b9e">Rebounds</font></td>
<td><font face="Verdana">38.9 RPG</font></td>
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<td class="strong"><font face="Verdana" color="#7d4b9e">Assists</font></td>
<td><font face="Verdana">20.3 APG</font></td>
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<td class="strong"><font face="Verdana" color="#b90456">Scoring</font></td>
<td><font face="Verdana">96.8PPG</font></td>
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<td class="strong"><font face="Verdana" color="#b90456">Field Goal %</font></td>
<td><font face="Verdana">44.7%</font></td>
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<td class="strong"><font face="Verdana" color="#b90456">3-Point %</font></td>
<td><font face="Verdana">35.2%</font></td>
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<td class="strong"><font face="Verdana" color="#b90456">Rebounds</font></td>
<td><font face="Verdana">43.5 RPG</font></td>
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<td class="strong"><font face="Verdana" color="#b90456">Assists</font></td>
<td><font face="Verdana">20.8 APG</font></td>
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<h4><font face="Verdana">Last Season Team Leaders</font></h4>
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<td class="strong"><font face="Verdana" color="#7d4b9e">Points</font></td>
<td><font face="Verdana">Martin20.2 PPG</font></td>
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<td class="strong"><font face="Verdana" color="#7d4b9e">Rebounds</font></td>
<td><font face="Verdana">Artest6.5 RPG</font></td>
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<td class="strong"><font face="Verdana" color="#7d4b9e">Assists</font></td>
<td><font face="Verdana">Bibby4.7 APG</font></td>
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<td class="strong"><font face="Verdana" color="#b90456">Points</font></td>
<td><font face="Verdana">James 27.3 PPG</font></td>
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<td class="strong"><font face="Verdana" color="#b90456">Rebounds</font></td>
<td><font face="Verdana">Gooden 8.5 RPG</font></td>
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<td class="strong"><font face="Verdana" color="#b90456">Assists</font></td>
<td><font face="Verdana">James 6.0 APG</font></td>
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<h4><font face="Verdana">Key MatchupG -<font color="#7d4b9e">Kevin Martin </font>v <font color="#b90456">Daniel Gibson</font></font></h4>
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<td colspan="2"><font face="Verdana"> v
Gibson has been having a somewhat torrid time defensively on this West Coat Road Trip. In three games, the opposing Point Guards have amassed 74 points- Steve Nash (30), Baron Davis (29), Deron Williams (15) - against Gibson and the Cavaliers. Gibson will have to be careful tonight, as Martin is perfectly capable of going for 30 points if his guard is let down. Equally, Gibson is capable of going for 30 if Martin's defense is off. By any standards, a 30 point performance will make one team more likely to win than the other, and that is what these two guys will be trying to stop in the other. These are two young Point Guards with bright futures ahead of them, and they will want to show the World what the future could hold.
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<h4><font face="Verdana">Keys to the Game</font></h4>
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<ul>[*]<font face="Verdana"><font color="#7d4b9e">Contain Ilgauskas- At the end of last season, very few people thought that Zydrunas Ilgauskas would ever be a serious threat to the opposition again. This season, however, he has proved that he is back with a vengeance, averaging 17 points on 53% shooting, 14 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game. If the Kings are to win tonight, they need to cut down Ilgauskas' contribution.
</font></font>
[*]<font face="Verdana"><font color="#7d4b9e">Contain LeBron- The King came out at full force against the Jazz on Wednesday, but the Kings probably don't have a strong enough offense without Mike Bibby to cope with LeBron if he plays that well again. If, however, their Forwards (they are still without Ron Artest) can manage to contain him, they stand to challenge the rest of the Cavaliers to "Rise Up" and win the ballgame themselves. That, I'm sure, is more desirable for the Kings than to let LeBron fight for it.
</font></font>
[*]<font face="Verdana"><font color="#7d4b9e">Playa fast-paced game- Most Western Conference teams play quitea high-octane game, and whilst they are no Phoenix Suns, the Kings will certainly benefit more from a fast-paced game than the Cavs. As such, they need to push the tempo of the game to try to get that valuable W.</font></font>[/list]
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<ul>[*]<font face="Verdana"><font color="#b90456">Cut down on turnovers- Against Utah, the Cavs had 18 turnovers (13 in the first half) and for a team who truly believe they are capable of winning a Championship, this is simply unacceptable. They need to cut down on their turnovers, play sensible basketball and build up their points tally steadily.
</font></font>
[*]<font face="Verdana"><font color="#b90456">Crash theBoards Hard- The main strength of the Cavaliers has been their rebounding. That, coincidentally, is also one of the Kings' main weaknesses. The combinationof the two means that the Cavs should be looking for 55+ rebounds to really open up their offense and cut off Sacramento's.
</font></font>
[*]<font face="Verdana"><font color="#b90456">Make Free-Throws- The Cavaliers' (especially LeBron James') Free Throw shooting has been awful this season. LeBron shot a woeful 7-15 Wednesday night v Utah. Had he shot at the 80% he should be looking for, the Cavs may have won by 3. So for anyone who says that Free Throws are inconsequential, that was a prime example of how they are. They need to make their Free Throws, or risk losing game after game after game.</font></font>[/list]
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<h4><font face="Verdana">The Cavs since 2003 v Sacramento</font></h4>
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<td colspan="2"><font face="Verdana" color="#b90456">The two teams have met8 times. The Cavs have won 3, averaging 101.3 PPG, and the Kings have won 5, averaging 105.5 PPG. LeBron James has played in 6 of the games (the Cavs are 2-4 when he plays v Kings) and averages 26.8 points, 6.5 rebounds and 8.2 assists.</font></td>
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<h4><font face="Verdana">Prediction</font></h4>
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<font face="Verdana">Larry Hughes is likely still out of the team for this game, leaving Pavlovic to fill his shoes. Sasha played well for the first half against Utah, but then failed to score in the second. If he can keep it up for an entire game tonight, the Cavs should be able to win, given that LeBron James and Zydrunas Ilgauskas will likely have solid games. The Kings will really have to pull together as a team if they are to win tonight, as they are still missing two of their best players; Mike Bibby and Ron Artest.</font></p>


<font face="Verdana" size="4"><font color="#7d4b9e">94</font>- <font color="#b90456">102</font></font></p>
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Re: NBA: CLEVELAND (2-3) at SACRAMENTO (1-3)

Should be an easy win for the Cavs.</p>

James with 38pts 7rbs 8assts</p>

 

Re: NBA: CLEVELAND (2-3) at SACRAMENTO (1-3)

<div class="articleHeadline">

Cavaliers-Kings Preview
By BRETT HUSTON, STATS Writer
Posted Nov 8 2007 3:30PM</p>

Three straight blowout losses on the road to start the 2007-08 season left the Sacramento Kings pining to come home. After winning their opener at Arco Arena, the Kings are anxious to take the court again in one of the NBA's loudest venues - even if it means facing LeBron James and the defending Eastern Conference champion Cleveland Cavaliers.</p>

Sacramento will try to put together back-to-back wins for the first time this season Friday night when it hosts Cleveland.</p>

The Kings were never competitive during their season-opening road swing, trailing by an average of 20 points at halftime against New Orleans, San Antonio and Dallas. Things appeared to be going that way again Tuesday night against Seattle as Sacramento trailed by 13 at the half, but a 31-point performance from guard Kevin Martin helped the Kings turn things around and escape with a 104-98 victory in their home opener.</p>

"Thirteen points in the NBA is nothing," said Kings coach Reggie Theus, who notched his first win. "They've showed no quit. Now, we've got our issues but quitting and not playing hard is not one of them."</p>

Sacramento (1-3) has been missing veteran point guard Mike Bibby, who is expected to be out until mid-December with a torn ligament in his right thumb. But Martin has been one of the top scorers in the league so far, averaging 26.8 points, more than a six-point increase from last season.</p>

John Salmons, a fifth-year swingman who averaged a career-high 8.5 points last season, is scoring 21.5 a contest and registering more than five rebounds and five assists.</p>

The Kings' main problem has been on the defensive end, where they've allowed 105.3 point per game. They're also at the bottom of the league in rebounding, pulling in just 34.3 a game.</p>

Theus, to put it mildly, stated that rebounding "has been a problem."</p>

Cleveland (2-3) will be trying to rebound from a last-second loss at Utah Wednesday, the third game of a six-game western trip that it's started 1-2. The Cavaliers led Phoenix going into the third quarter before falling 103-92 Sunday and then held off Golden State 108-104 on Tuesday.</p>

Utah led most of the way Wednesday, but James tied the score at 101 by hitting a desperation 3-pointer with six seconds remaining in the game. Instead of calling a timeout the Jazz pushed the ball upcourt, and Deron Williams drove the length of the floor for a layup to give Utah a 103-101 win.</p>

"Great move. We expected him to call a timeout. But I should have known," said James, who finished with 32 points, 15 rebounds and 13 assists - his 11th career triple double. "Great play. Nothing we could do."</p>

James hasn't been shooting the ball particularly well, hitting 43.5 percent of his field goals and only 64.3 percent of his free throws. But he's still averaging 27.6 points, and his 9.2 rebounds and 8.2 assists are career bests.</p>

"LeBron gets a triple-double like that and you hope to come away with the win, but (it didn't happen)," Cleveland coach Mike Brown said. "Our guys could have caved here a couple of times, but (they) kept fighting and fighting."</p>

The Cavaliers have missed the energy and rebounding of unsigned free agent Anderson Varejao, but center Zydrunas Ilgauskas is doing his best to pick up the slack. The 7-foot-3 Lithuanian is averaging a career-high 17.4 points and his 14.0 rebounds per game are among the best in the NBA.</p>

Cleveland has won three of its past four against the Kings, including two straight in Sacramento. Prior to that, the Cavs had dropped nine in a row in the series, including James' NBA debut, a 106-92 loss on Oct. 29, 2003 at Arco.</p>

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NBA: CLEVELAND at SACRAMENTO

<div class="pre">CLEVELAND AT SACRAMENTO - PROBABLE STARTING LINEUPS


CLEVELAND SACRAMENTO

F LeBron James F John Salmons
F Drew Gooden F Mikki Moore
C Zydrunas Ilgauskas C Brad Miller
G Aleksandar Pavlovic G Francisco Garcia
G Daniel Gibson G Kevin Martin

OFFICIALS: Mike Callahan
Tony Brothers
Brian Forte</div>

 

NBA: CLEVELAND at SACRAMENTO

<div class="pre">CLEVELAND VS SACRAMENTO - INACTIVES

CLEVELAND SACRAMENTO

PLAYER NAME REASON PLAYER NAME REASON
E SNOW SPRAINED LEFT ANKLE M BIBBY THUMB INJURY
D MARSHALL LEFT WRIST INJURY B UDRIH HAND INJURY
L HUGHES LEFT KNEE INJURY J WILLIAMS PERSONAL REASONS</div>

 

NBA: CLEVELAND at SACRAMENTO

<div class="pre">NBA CLEVELAND 5
SACRAMENTO 6 9:00 LEFT, 1ST QTR</div>

 

NBA: CLEVELAND at SACRAMENTO

<div class="pre">NBA CLEVELAND 12
SACRAMENTO 9 5:55 LEFT, 1ST QTR</div>

 

NBA: CLEVELAND at SACRAMENTO

<div class="pre">NBA CLEVELAND 17
SACRAMENTO 19 3:06 LEFT, 1ST QTR</div>

 

NBA: CLEVELAND at SACRAMENTO

<div class="pre">NBA CLEVELAND 23
SACRAMENTO 21 END, 1ST QTR</div>

 

NBA: CLEVELAND at SACRAMENTO

<div class="pre">NBA END 1ST QTR 1ST 2ND 3RD 4TH TOTAL
--- --- --- --- -----
CLEVELAND 23 23
SACRAMENTO 21 21 END 1ST QTR

HIGH SCORERS AFTER 1ST QUARTER

CLE - DREW GOODEN 8, LEBRON JAMES 7, ZYDRUNAS
ILGAUSKAS 5
SAC - KEVIN MARTIN 7, QUINCY DOUBY 6, JOHN
SALMONS 4</div>

 

NBA: CLEVELAND at SACRAMENTO

<div class="pre">NBA CLEVELAND 33
SACRAMENTO 23 8:45 LEFT, 2ND QTR</div>

 

Re: NBA: CLEVELAND (2-3) at SACRAMENTO (1-3)

Sacramento started off good, but are going down hill as the game goes on.</p>

 

NBA: CLEVELAND at SACRAMENTO

<div class="pre">NBA CLEVELAND 42
SACRAMENTO 37 5:35 LEFT, 2ND QTR</div>

 

NBA: CLEVELAND at SACRAMENTO

<div class="pre">NBA CLEVELAND 43
SACRAMENTO 44 3:00 LEFT, 2ND QTR</div>

 

NBA: CLEVELAND at SACRAMENTO

<div class="pre">NBA CLEVELAND 43
SACRAMENTO 44 2:49 LEFT, 2ND QTR</div>

 

NBA: CLEVELAND at SACRAMENTO

<div class="pre">NBA CLEVELAND 48
SACRAMENTO 48 HALFTIME</div>

 

NBA: CLEVELAND at SACRAMENTO

<div class="pre">NBA HALFTIME 1ST 2ND 3RD 4TH TOTAL
--- --- --- --- -----
CLEVELAND 23 25 48
SACRAMENTO 21 27 48 HALFTIME

HIGH SCORERS AT HALFTIME

CLE - DEVIN BROWN 11, DREW GOODEN 8, LEBRON
JAMES 7
SAC - KEVIN MARTIN 18, JOHN SALMONS 11, QUINCY
DOUBY 8</div>

 

NBA: CLEVELAND at SACRAMENTO

<div class="pre">NBA CLEVELAND 52
SACRAMENTO 54 8:44 LEFT, 3RD QTR</div>

 

NBA: CLEVELAND at SACRAMENTO

<div class="pre">NBA CLEVELAND 56
SACRAMENTO 59 5:56 LEFT, 3RD QTR</div>