National Basketball Association

Highs and Lows: Sacramento Kings Upset The Defending Champs

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 4:42 p.m. ET

Fansided, Rafe Wong/FanSided via A Royal Pain

The Sacramento Kings completed an epic upset tonight as they defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers in overtime by a score of 116-112.

Listed down below are the highs and lows that happened in tonight’s game pertaining to the Sacramento Kings.

HIGHS

Balanced Offense: The question every game for the Kings is: Who is going to be the second scoring option next to DeMarcus Cousins? Well, it seems like there are multiple options for Sacramento based on their last two games.

Jan 25, 2017; Cleveland, OH, USA; Sacramento Kings guard Arron Afflalo (40) and guard Darren Collison (7) celebrate after Afflalo hit a three-pointer in overtime to put the Kings ahead of the Cleveland Cavaliers at Quicken Loans Arena. The Kings won 116-112. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports

For tonight, the offensive distribution was balanced for the Kings. Out of the ten players that played tonight, the Kings had five players that scored in the double-digits. DeMarcus Cousins (28), Darren Collison (23), Arron Afflalo (14), Garrett Temple (12), and Malachi Richardson (12) were those five players.

Free Throw Battle: The Cavaliers ended up going to the free throw line 34 times for the night compared to the Kings who went just 22 times. Yet, the Kings ended up making two more shots from the charity stripe than the Cavs. Unlike Cleveland, Sacramento was able to take advantage of their “free” points. For the night, the Kings ended up shooting 19-22 from the free-throw line (86.4%) and the Cavaliers ended up shooting 17-34 (50%) from the same area.

Assists-to-Turnover Ratio: Like it was mentioned above, the Kings had a well-balanced offense for the night, but they were also able to take care of the basketball. The Kings finished the game recording 29 assists as a collective whole and only turning the ball over 11 times. As a result, the Kings had an assist-to-turnover ratio of almost three to complete the night. An efficient offensive performance overall.

LOWS

Perimeter Defense: The Kings again let their opponents make the long ball on them. For the night, Cleveland was able to shoot an efficient 39.5% from the three-point line.

The Kings’ defense is ranked 19th in the league in points allowed per game (105.4), and the main reason for it is because they allow their opponents to shoot 37.8% from the perimeter for the season. Once the Kings buckle up from the perimeter is when their defense will start to click and become an asset for them.

Stopping the Big Three: Despite the defending NBA champions falling tonight, their dynamic trio wasn’t a reason for it. For the night, the group of LeBron James, Kyrie Irving, and Kevin Love finished the game recording a whopping 65 points, 30 rebounds, 22 assists, 5 steals, and 3 blocks. The Kings for a second time this season had no answer for them.

Game of Runs: This is a normal trend for the Kings. The Kings will construct a run which will give them massive momentum for the game, but for some reason, they will waste their efforts by giving their opponents a run of their own. This happened many times throughout tonight’s game.

It seems almost every contest for Sacramento is a game of runs. They easily blow “comfortable” leads as much as they make epic comebacks against their opponents. The Kings were able to get away with it tonight, but that won’t fly going forward.