At the end of the 3rd and going into the 4th, it looked as if Cleveland was finally gaining some separation from the Kings, and with 10:52 left, the Cavs led 80-70, their biggest lead of the game. On the other end Tyreke missed a shot and Cleveland found a streaking Omri Casspi on the other end for what looked to be an open dunk. Tyreke came out of nowhere to block it though, and took it all the way to find Isaiah in the corner for a three, starting the Kings comeback. If Sacramento had won, this block would have been the turning point of the game.
Over the next three minutes, the Kings would get back in the game, eventually taking the lead back with 6:11 left as Isaiah Thomas drove and found a cutting Marcus Thornton for the layup to make it 84-82. All the baskets the Kings scored in this stretch were assisted, and the pace was very fast as Isaiah really pushed the tempo.
For the rest of the quarter, the lead went back and forth. The Kings had quite a few opportunities to take a two possession lead that they couldn't capitalize on. Eventually, with 35 seconds left Tristan Thompson tipped in a missed layup attempt by Kyrie Irving to tie the game up at 90 apiece.
Gee missed the first free throw, but sunk the second. Sacramento had plenty of time to score, and they actually ran a play in the final possession that wasn't the 1-4 flat! The Kings found DeMarcus Cousins in the post, and he took it to the baseline and laid the ball up softly off the glass to give the Kings the 92-91 lead with just 2.9 seconds left. All the Kings had to do was play defense for one possession. All they had to do was contest and make sure they didn't foul, for whatever reason.
Irving sank both free throws and as expected, the Kings couldn't convert with only 0.4 seconds to operate. They actually got two chances at it, thanks to the first inbound attempt hitting the rim first, which isn't allowed.
This was an incredibly frustrating loss, and it shows just how much this team has to grow before they can be considered a good team. The Kings have a really good shot at coming up completely empty on this road trip, with only trips to Miami on Tuesday and Washington on Wednesday left.
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