Cavs Reporter Notes 2 Major Reasons That Led To Kings Win

Since the start of the season, the Cleveland Cavaliers have been trying to win two games in a row.

So far, it hasn’t happened.

On Monday night, they fell again, this time to the Sacramento Kings, 132-120.

Following the game, Tony Pesta spoke about why the team wasn’t able to pull off a win.

According to Pesta, it all came down to this: the Cavaliers didn’t have an answer when the Kings trapped Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland, and they couldn’t combat the strong Sacramento offense.

I’m more concerned by this loss than any of the others so far

– Effort wasn’t the problem
– Most of the team is healthy
– Cavs limited turnovers
– Cavs shot 45% from 3P

But they had no answer for any aspect of SAC’s offense

No answer for Mitchell/Garland being trapped

— Tony Pesta (@Tony_Pesta) November 14, 2023

It’s no surprise that the Kings had an assertive offense on Monday – the fact that they scored 132 points in regulation proves that is the case.

This was true for the Kings last season too; they were consistently one of the fastest and most dangerous teams from all over the court.

But as Pesta noted, the Cavaliers didn’t know how to respond when Mitchell and Garland were slowed down.

They run the team’s backcourt and if they aren’t able to produce a lot then the team’s chances of winning dwindle.

On Monday night, Mitchell scored 22 points and 5 assists, while Garland put up 16 points and 6 assists.

Pesta commented on how the team’s effort was strong and the roster was healthy too.

Plus, they didn’t have many turnovers (11 in total) and shot 45% from the three-point line.

Yet, they still came up short in the end, which is both surprising and disappointing for fans.

The Cavaliers have a 4-6 record right now and are about to take on the Portland Trail Blazers and Detroit Pistons next.

In the days ahead, they will need to take a good, hard look at what went wrong Monday night and figure out how to adjust.