The Cleveland Cavaliers are a better basketball team, at least right now, than the Sacramento Kings. Even with that acknowledgement out of the way, there haven’t been too many better stretches by one team that we’ve seen this season than the one that Cleveland put together at the end of the first half of Saturday night’s game.
The Cavs absolutely blitzed the Kings in the frame, taking an 81-52 lead into the locker room. This included a 16-4 run over the final 3:19 in which damn near everything Cleveland did worked out on both ends of the floor. Here are some of the high points, which include a bunch of blocked and altered shots by Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley, dunks by both of those dudes, a number of good looks in transition, and an arena that got very loud.
interrupted by only a De’Aaron jumper. a timeout, and an OB, here is quite-possibly the biggest beatdown sequence of the NBA season by the Cavs.
Halftime:
Cleveland 81
Sacramento 52holy hell that was a rush. https://t.co/vxLURcRCLk pic.twitter.com/OjXX1tfk8T
— Rob Perez (@WorldWideWob) December 12, 2021
This run meant that the team tied the franchise record for the most points in a first half, and they were one bucket away from tying the record for the most points in any half.
The @cavs 81 points in the 1st Half are tied for their most points EVER in an opening half (also had 81 in 1st Half on Nov. 23, 2016 vs. POR).
The Cavs were just two points shy of their all-time record for points in any half (83 in 2nd Half vs. IND on Jan. 15, 1993).#LetEmKnow
— Cavs Notes (@CavsNotes) December 12, 2021
The Cavaliers entered Saturday’s game with a 15-12 record, good for fifth place in the Eastern Conference. They were a half-game up on the teams in seventh and eighth place in the play-in tournament, and they can take solace in knowing that gap is not getting any smaller tonight.
