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On Sunday night, the Cleveland Cavaliers faced a desperate Sacramento Kings team that needs a bit more cushion to book their place in the play-in tournament. And the Kings played with so much desperation that they managed to sweep the season series against the East-leading Cavs with a 120-113 win on Sunday. However, this victory did not come without its fair share of controversy.
In the fourth quarter, with the Kings leading by five, 116-111, with around 50 seconds left in the game, the Cavs were playing excellent defense, forcing Sacramento to hold the ball late in the shot clock. Zach LaVine, however, found a way to get into the paint with the shot clock dwindling and made a layup to push the lead to seven. It did look as though LaVine failed to beat the shot clock buzzer, and a closer review of the play confirms that the Kings guard's basket should not have stood.
On the floor, however, the referees thought otherwise, and didn't even stop play to review the legality of LaVine's basket. After the Cavs' loss, the officials then owned up to their mistake, saying that they should have stopped play immediately after LaVine's basket to review the basket and whether or not it should have stood. Suffice to say, it shouldn't have.
“Well, we made a mistake. During live action we thought that LaVine released the ball prior to the expiration of the shot clock. If we were going to review, we would have had to review it before the ball was legally touched on the floor during the throw in, right after the made basket,” referee crew chief Courtney Kirkland admitted during the Pool Report, via NBA.com.
While it is helpful to see referees admit their mistakes, this is all a moot point anyway, as nothing they can say can change the outcome of the game.
Cavs have off night in loss to the Kings
Even the best teams in the NBA have their off nights, and on Sunday night, the Cavs simply couldn't get anything going, particularly on defense. They allowed the Kings to shoot 53.7 percent from the field and 42.4 percent from beyond the arc — with Zach LaVine finishing with 37 points on the night.
The firepower the Kings had simply could not be matched by the Cavs amid a poor shooting night from Darius Garland, who finished with nine points on 4-13 shooting from the field. Cleveland will be looking to get back on track when they face a hot Chicago Bulls team on Tuesday night.
