Final Score: Cleveland Cavaliers fall to Sacramento Kings 129-110

Tyronn Lue may no longer be with the team, but that doesn’t mean the team can’t learn lessons. Collin Sexton had a glimpse of what his future game could be as De’Aaron Fox and the Sacramento Kings buried the Cleveland Cavaliers in the second half.

Like the loss to the Golden State Warriors, the Cavs managed to stay competitive throughout the first half, but simply weren’t able to keep up offensively in the subsequent quarters.

The story of the game was the masterful performance put forward by Fox. With 30 points, 12 assists and only one turnover on 12-16 shooting, Fox was in full control of the game. While Sexton (23 points) and Jordan Clarkson (26 points) were able to hold their own in terms of scoring, they and the rest of the team were helpless in terms of slowing down the talented sophomore.

Sacramento established their edge in this game by getting into the paint and forcing turnovers. They established a 72-42 edge in the interior and had a plus-seven edge in turnovers.

Rounding out the scoring leaders for both teams was Alec Burks with 22 points and the emerging Buddy Hield, who contributed 25 points to the winning effort.

In some ways, the Kings reflect what the Cavs should strive for. As depressing as that sentence is, they are a young team that has given opportunities to the players they want to be a part of their future and are trying to win every game. While that didn’t necessarily translate last season, the mistakes they made then have helped them to become one of the better stories of this year.

Sexton and Fox embraced each other after the game and seemed to share a few words. Fox, like Sexton, struggled at times during his rookie year and didn’t seem to fully grasp what it takes to run a team.

There are so many things to learn at the point guard position beyond just your individual scoring. While Sexton seems to be establishing himself as a scorer, now would be a great time to see him work on other facets of his game and work towards developing good habits.

The Cavs will finish up their homestand tomorrow as they host the Washington Wizards at 7:30 p.m. Then, they travel to Milwaukee to take on George Hill and the Bucks. The Cavs lost 119-95 last time they faced the Wizards, so hopefully they can take some lessons from that and have a better showing on Saturday night.