A four-game road trip through the Western Conference allowed the Cleveland Cavaliers to further build their confidence. That's something they've hardly lacked at home.
After going 3-1 on a potentially rough road swing, the Cavaliers look to improve to 21-0 at home this season when they face the Sacramento Kings, who are 0-18 against the Eastern Conference in 2008-09, on Tuesday.After dropping the opener of its trip to the Los Angeles Lakers last Monday, Cleveland (34-8) defeated Portland, Golden State and Utah to finish the road stretch. Led by a determined LeBron James, the Cavs knocked off the Jazz 102-97 on Saturday.
"We came in with the mind-set to close out the road trip the right way and we did that," said James, who had 33 points, 14 rebounds and nine assists - one night after hitting the winning shot in a 106-105 victory over the Warriors.
James averaged 30.5 points, 9.8 rebounds and 8.8 assists during the trip. He was 14-of-27 from the field Saturday despite being on the receiving end of some physical defense by the Jazz.
"That happens every game ... and I ain't missed a game yet," he said.
The Cavaliers boast the East's best winning percentage at .810 and have won seven of nine. They have a chance to continue their surge and push that percentage even higher thanks to an slightly easier schedule over the next week. Only two of their next six opponents own winning records and one of those, Detroit, has struggled of late.
Cleveland has held opponents to 88.0 points per game at Quicken Loans Arena in opening 20-0 there, outscoring teams by an average of 16.4 points. The Cavs are 6-0 at home against the Western Conference this season.
None of that bodes well for Sacramento (10-35), which has lost five straight and is 2-11 in 2009. The Kings remained winless versus East opponents this season with a 113-97 defeat to Toronto on Sunday.
John Salmons scored 21 points and Francisco Garcia added 18, but Sacramento hit five of its last 16 3-point attempts after going 6-of-9 from beyond the arc in the first quarter.
"We have to become smarter as a team at driving the ball to the basket," coach Kenny Natt said. "We just didn't play very smart, we missed a lot of defensive assignments and they took advantage of it."
Sacramento fell to 3-20 on the road. The Kings are one of the worst defensive teams in the league, allowing 107.8 points per game. They're giving up 112.6 per contest against the Eastern Conference.
"We are losing each game differently," Salmons said. "We've just got to put a whole game together and be more consistent with our effort in the game."
Cleveland has won four straight over the Kings, although last season's two victories came by a combined six points.
