CLEVELAND – They were shadowing him, pursuing him, cornering him, trailing him, dogging him, bumping him and sending extra defenders at him with every advance to the basket in the second half. The Kings turned LeBron James into a point guard with the game on the line.
It's just that they needed to be able to turn themselves into something else with the game on the line. Instead, they remained true until Friday night's bitter end, unable to close out on the boards and unable to properly handle the ball and, therefore, unable to win even while holding James to five points on 1-for-9 shooting in the final two quarters.
It was 97-93 Cavaliers at Quicken Loans Arena, and it was painfully familiar.
"Listen," Kings coach Reggie Theus began. "We've got all the built-in excuses. Which are not acceptable. But I still thought we gave them a gift.
"The minutes are high. We play tomorrow. But we can't worry about that. Bottom line, we had the game within our reach. You (make) 22 turnovers against a team that doesn't pressure. It's night in and night out, and it's ridiculous."
Turnovers and rebounding.
Rebounding and turnovers.
The Kings came in 28th in the league in turnovers, two from the bottom, then committed six in the fourth quarter that led to 10 Cleveland points. Two in a row helped the Kings' chances of rallying from a 90-89 deficit fade away for good.
The Kings came in 26th in defensive rebounding, then watched, in some cases literally, as the Cavaliers crushed their spirits with offensive rebounds. Anderson Varejao's layin with 1:02 left was on a third shot and made Cleveland's cushion 94-91.
Varejao's rebound of a James miss the next trip downcourt, after Beno Udrih's running scoop shot got Sacramento back within 94-93, led to Daniel Gibson's decisive three-pointer and the final margin with 11.8 seconds left.
"That's just been it in most of our close games and the games that we lose," Kings center Brad Miller said. "That's our downfall. Turning the ball over and giving up a lot of offensive rebounds."
Even worse for their spirits, the latest reminder came on the same night when so much had gone right – the Kings shot 55.3 percent to Cleveland's 38.5, and, of course, there was the little matter of James scoring 13 points the first quarter and 11 thereafter.
The Kings even turned another crowd against a home team, using an aggressive start to build a 12-point lead late in the opening period that led to the Cavaliers being booed.
The anger has become mandatory in New York, where the disgust rained down as the visitors took early control on Wednesday, but at least the Cavaliers entered Friday night with four wins in the previous six games.
Enter James.
With no one else able to rescue Cleveland, a familiar trend in a season of disappointment, he had a jumper, a three-point shot and a three-point play on consecutive possessions late in the quarter to get the Cavaliers within eight. He had 13 points, and the eight teammates who played with him combined for eight more.
They rallied all the way back to a 49-49 halftime tie, fell behind again by eight late in the third quarter, then responded again.
When Udrih fouled Gibson on a three-pointer, Gibson made two free throws to put Cleveland up 78-77. Gibson followed with a three-pointer the next trip down, Varejao had a three-point play two possessions later, and the night of struggles had suddenly turned into an 85-77 Cleveland advantage.
The final seven minutes would follow, and for the Kings, the turnovers and the missed rebounds, just like so many other times. Night in and night out.
Call The Bee's Scott Howard- Cooper, (916) 321-1210.
