SACRAMENTO, Calif. \u2014 It didn\u2019t take James Harden long to make his mark. <\/p>\n
Harden and the Cavs rallied in the fourth quarter to escape with a 132-126 win over the crumbling Sacramento Kings on Saturday night. It\u2019s Cleveland\u2019s third straight victory and eighth in the last nine games. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a confidence about us now,\u201d Cavs coach Kenny Atkinson said. \u201cThere\u2019s no panic. Reminded me of last year where we were just kind of calm, in the moment. They were making incredible shots and played great, but we kept our calm. Helps when you have James Harden and Donovan Mitchell to help close a game like that.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was a shaky start \u2014 for Harden and the Cavs. <\/p>\n
While waiting for the pre-deadline blockbuster trade to officially go through, Harden was unable to practice with his new team. Early on, he was trying to find his way. Same with the Cavs who went down 15-8 in the first four-plus minutes, causing Atkinson to call the first timeout of the game. <\/p>\n
Cleveland trailed 31-25 after one quarter. <\/p>\n
But it opened the second on an energetic 15-2 run, led by former Kings Dennis Schroder and Keon Ellis \u2014 part of the other deadline deal that has fortified this championship hopeful roster. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey just wreak havoc,\u201d Donovan Mitchell said of that second unit. \u201cThat\u2019s a special group. Our young guys have been doing it all year and now you add two new guys in Keon and Dennis, it\u2019s big time.\u201d<\/p>\n
By the end of those turnaround 12 minutes, the Cavs had outscored Sacramento, 32-24, taking a two-point lead into the halftime locker room. <\/p>\n
The third quarter started a lot like the first, with Cleveland looking out of sync on offense and unable to get stops consistently at the other end. The Kings, who entered the night on an 11-game losing streak, were back in front by double digits at the 4:56 mark. <\/p>\n
That\u2019s when the Cavaliers\u2019 rebuilt bench ignited another late-quarter run, erasing that deficit and temporarily reclaiming the advantage about two minutes later \u2014 part of an 11-0 burst. <\/p>\n
Despite that, Cleveland trailed by three going into the fourth quarter. <\/p>\n
First, it was Mitchell\u2019s turn. <\/p>\n
He poured in Cleveland\u2019s first 11 points of the final period. <\/p>\n
Next, came Harden who checked back in with around eight minutes left and the Cavs trailing by two. <\/p>\n
Moments after replacing Mitchell so the team leader could get a brief respite, Harden\u2019s transition triple put Cleveland ahead by one. <\/p>\n
Only the young, feisty Kings wouldn\u2019t go away, taking a two-point lead with 4:48 left and then extending it to seven \u2014 until Cleveland responded with an 8-0 run that was punctuated by a wide-open go-ahead 3 from Harden. <\/p>\n
As Golden 1 Center groaned, Harden roared and Cleveland\u2019s bench mimicked his signature celebration \u2014 a \u201cstirring the pot\u201d gesture adopted years ago. <\/p>\n
Harden was cooking. <\/p>\n
But Sacramento pulled back even with 42.5 seconds left on DeMar DeRozan\u2019s clutch 3. <\/p>\n
Mitchell answered \u2014 again \u2014 with a forceful drive that earned him two free throws. He made both. And then Harden closed out the W at the free-throw line. <\/p>\n
Harden, who missed his first three shots of the night, finished with 23 points, 15 of which came in the fourth quarter, on 7 of 13 shooting to go with eight assists in 32 minutes. <\/p>\n
\u201cI just have to figure it out, figure out where I fit in,\u201d Harden admitted. \u201cBut it won\u2019t be that hard at all. I was just like, \u2018Do what y\u2019all do and I will figure it out. I\u2019m good enough to figure it out and insert myself in.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
By the fourth quarter, he did. <\/p>\n
Harden, acquired from Los Angeles in exchange for fan favorite Darius Garland and a future second-round pick, made every shot he took in the fourth \u2014 four field goals, a trio of triples and four more freebies.<\/p>\n
A vintage closing stretch. <\/p>\n
\u201cMade all the big plays,\u201d Atkinson said of Harden. \u201cHe was the closer. Him and Donovan really synched up at the end to make the big plays.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mitchell led the way, finishing with 35 points, including 17 in the fourth quarter. <\/p>\n
In all, Cleveland\u2019s co-stars combined for 32 of the team\u2019s 39 in the fourth. <\/p>\n
According to Elias Sports Bureau, Mitchell and Harden became the first Cavs teammates to each score at least 15 points in the fourth quarter of any game in the play-by-play era (since 1996-97).<\/p>\n
Jarrett Allen added 29 points and 10 rebounds. <\/p>\n
The Kings were led by youngster Nique Clifford who had 30 points. Six others reached double figures. <\/p>\n
It might not have been exactly what Cleveland envisioned on Tuesday, when putting the finishing touches on the widely reported franchise-altering trade. But late in the game, when it mattered most, Mitchell and Harden showed a glimpse of what they can become. <\/p>\n
Together. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s going to be a work in progress but saw a lot of things that were positive,\u201d Mitchell said. \u201cWe just know in the back of our heads, we really had no time to work on nothing. We were just out there playing. Not bad. We will get better.\u201d<\/p>\n
Up next<\/p>\n
The Cavs will wrap up this road trip on Monday night against the Denver Nuggets. Tipoff is set for 9 p.m.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SACRAMENTO, Calif. \u2014 It didn\u2019t take James Harden long to make his mark. Harden and the Cavs rallied…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":169069,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[121,123,122],"class_list":{"0":"post-169068","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sacramento","8":"tag-sacramento","9":"tag-sacramento-headlines","10":"tag-sacramento-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169068","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=169068"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169068\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/169069"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=169068"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=169068"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=169068"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}