Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Sacramento Kings: start time, TV info, preview

Well, there have been more fun times in Cavs land. The Cavaliers are in the midst of a two-game losing streak after dropping a back-to-back against Utah and then Portland, which are coincidentally the two places where Cavalier joy goes to die. After a day off, the Cavs play their fourth game in six days against the Sacramento Kings.

Who: Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Utah Jazz

When: 10:30 p.m. EST

Where: Golden 1 Center

TV: Fox Sports Ohio, NBA League Pass

Enemy Blog: Sac Town Royalty

Music: Get Better - Frank Turner

What to Watch

• The Cavaliers can get better, because they’re not dead yet, writes Frank Turner, sort of. Just kidding. They’re gonna be fine, they just have to work through a slump.
• Iman Shumpert is set to start this one in place of DeAndre Liggins. With the addition of Kyle Korver, I sort of felt it didn’t make much sense to keep Liggins in the starting lineup, and Tyronn Lue apparently agrees.
• The Cavaliers, uh, just have to make some shots. Per FTS’ Mike Zavagno , Iman Shumpert is shooting NINETEEN PERCENT from three. DeAndre Liggins has shot 26% from three since Christmas. Kevin Love has struggled since his sea bass incident. Basically, the team isn’t shooting well and it’s really gumming up spacing.
• Kyle Korver has mostly played with punchless bench units featuring either none of the Big Three or just one at a time. He’s probably best optimized offensively with the starters, but it makes sense that Ty Lue would like to get him integrated more before giving him starter minutes, given that he hasn’t even had a practice with the team yet.
• It feels like the Kings always put forth a good effort against the Cavaliers. Boogie Cousins is so, so good when he’s motivated, and Rudy Gay always ratchets his play up a notch when going against LeBron. For an awful team with very few useful players, they can be fun to watch when things are going right, if not just for the Boogie Show.
• Sacramento is just a half-game out of the eight-seed in the West, but that’s a byproduct of how bad the lower-middle class in that conference is. They’re 16-22, for goodness sake. The top of the West remains great, but man, it’s worth wondering if it’s even worth chasing a playoff spot just to get waxed by Golden State if you’re going to miss the lottery at six or seven games under .500.
• Kyrie Irving’s slumped a little as well recently. A day off was probably good for his legs, and it’d be nice to see him have a bounce-back game.

Fear the Sword’s Fearless Prediction

The Cavaliers don’t like losing three games in a row, especially with a matchup against Golden State looming. I think they come out motivated and against a not-great Kings team, they’ll take home a win. The Cavaliers win 122-108.