James and Cavs finally beat the Kings

Larry Hughes made eight of his 10 free throw attempts en route to a 24-point night, while Drew Gooden and Zydrunas Ilgauskas each chipped in 14 points.

Eric Snow added nine points on 4-of-5 shooting for Cleveland, which snapped a two-game slide overall and a nine-game skid against the Kings. This was the first win for the Cavs at ARCO Arena in seven tries.

Shareef Abdur-Rahim netted 25 points for the Kings, who have dropped four straight. Bonzi Wells had a double-double with 19 points and 12 rebounds, and Mike Bibby tallied 16 points in the loss. Each of Sacramento’s starters finished in double-digits, but the team was unable to keep up with James and company down the stretch.

The Kings trailed 51-44 at the half, but outscored the Cavaliers 28-22 in the third quarter to pull within one.

Sacramento then went up by two with 10 minutes remaining on a Francisco Garcia layup, only to see the Cavs reestablish their edge immediately with an 8-0 surge.

Peja Stojakovic pulled up and sank a jumper from the key with 5:12 left in the contest to cut the Kings’ deficit to three points.

James, however, erased Sacramento’s momentum with a three-pointer on the other end of the floor to make it 87-81.

Abdur-Rahim tried to keep it close with a dunk with 2:40 on the clock that put the score at 91-85, but Hughes responded with a jumper to keep Cleveland comfortably ahead.

Bibby made one last ditch effort for Sacramento. He drained a three with 26 seconds left then was fouled beyond the arc on his next attempt and made each of his shots from the charity stripe to pull the Kings to within four. Cleveland made enough free throws down the stretch, though, to capture the win.

Game Notes

The Cavs last topped the Kings back on November 1, 2000...Cleveland’s last win as the visitor in this series came way back in March of 1998...Sacramento is 6-6 in its arena this season...Cleveland, which concluded a three-game road trip, is 4-5 away from home this year...Stojakovic had 15 points and Brad Miller had 12 points and 10 boards for the Kings.