Sacramento Kings hopes to turn a single success into a much -needed home -winning line when they host Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday evening.
The kings (34-33) fell to .500 and to ninth place at the Western conference over the weekend after a four-game losing line which included 29-, 26- and 16 points defeat, the two later on the road.
Sacramento was comforted with two days off and went back in a position direction when it returned home to beat Memphis Grizzlies 132-122 on Monday. They are now jumping into the teeth of their seven-game home which also includes visits from Boston Celtics and Oklahoma City Thunder.
The kings start playing on Wednesday four matches from eighth place in the West, with much greater competition that persecutes them from behind. Dallas Mavericks currently lives two matches back in the 10th, the last play-in spot, while Phoenix Suns is another game behind in the 11th.
Even the end of their losing line on Monday could not be celebrated, as the kings saw the sabonis of the Domanta leave the game with a justified right ankle.
Further investigation Tuesday revealed that star Big Man is likely to miss the rest of the home. Sabonis is officially excluded for Wednesday.
Teammate Malik Monk tried to take a positive attitude after the victory.
“Domits (is) strong,” he said. “He probably comes back before we think.”
With Sabonis Limited to 12 minutes, Monk (28 points), Zach Lavine (23) and Demar Derozan (22) led the road to grizzlies.
Sixty -eight matches during the season Kings will see Cavaliers for the first time. The clubs will meet in an Omatch in Cleveland in Game 78 on April 6.
While Sacramento only settled in a home country, Cleveland opened a five-game Western Swing with a loss of 132-119 to Los Angeles Clippers on Tuesday.
After completing Back-to-back, Cavaliers will also see Suns, Utah Jazz and Portland Trail Blazers before going home.
Cleveland (56-12), the volatile leader in the Eastern Conference, began the Tuesday competition in an impressive way and drove up 45 points in the first quarter against Clippers.
Cavaliers, however, raised only 28 and 29 in the two periods, and when they were outscored 26-17 during the fourth quarter, they only had their third losing line of the year.
Cleveland has lost two games in a row, a game card from its seasonal ski, which occurred at the end of January.
Donovan Mitchell (18 points), Darius Garland (17) and Evan Mobley (17), played in California, combined Donovan Mitchell (18 points), Darius Garland (17) and Evan Mobley (17), combined for 52 points in the loss to Clippers. Max Strus set up a season high 24 points.
Los Angeles made 54.8 percent of its shots from the floor, including 16 out of 35 (45.7 percent) from 3-point intervals.
“Elite shooting performance of them,” said Cleveland coach Kenny Atkinson. “Bad defensive performance of us. … Sure, they shot the ball well, maybe a little over our heads, but our lack of discipline, fouling them, put them on the line and then gave them other chance points, so even though they had an elite shooting game, we didn’t do the little things.
“We were not disciplined on the margins, which is why you give up 132 points.
“Just have to be better. That kind of defensive performance, you won’t survive in a playoffs.”
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