Matthew Dellavedova handed out a career-high 13 assists while starting in place of Williams on Thursday and added 12 points on 4-of-6 shooting on Saturday as Cleveland won the Eastern Conference finals rematch.
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Point guard Rajon Rondo had 13 points, nine assists and seven rebounds for Sacramento, while Kosta Koufos had 12 points, Marco Belinelli added 13 points and Omri Casspi had 11. Down 65-61 with 5:03 in the period, the Kings used a 22-2 run to take a 83-67 lead into the fourth.
The Orlando Magic ran into something of a buzzsaw as the Sacramento Kings locked down defensively and made life hard for the inconsistent Magic.
The Orlando Magic did not have their offense in line for much of the game.
The Kings effort was consistent throughout the game, with the lead either marginally growing or being maintained for most of the first half of action.
Orlando surged within 87-80 in the fourth, but after Even Fournier was called for a technical for arguing an offensive foul, the Kings got the lead back up to double digits.
Cousins carried the offensive load for the Kings in the first half, scoring 15 points.
He was back in the lineup after serving a one-game suspension for hitting Atlanta’s Al Horford with a forearm to the head on Wednesday.
“I’m not trying to send messages”, coach Scott Skiles said. “They’re switching their three man onto our point guard, and vice versa, and bigs onto smalls and, so, the scarier thing is that we only shot eight free throws ourselves while they’re doing that”.
However, in what seemed to be another typical 3rd quarter for the Kings, the Magic came out of the locker room ready to play and went on a 7-0 run that decimated the Kings’ lead and put the Magic up 54-53. The Kings also shot well from beyond the arc as well as connecting on 28 of 31 free throws.
Tobias Harris led the Magic with 24 points. He continues to perform at a high level despite the strife in the organization that includes tension between Cousins and coach George Karl. “Cous is a frustrated guy who wants to win”, Karl said afterward.
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He finished with 11 points and 11 rebounds, but again sat the entire fourth quarter as the Magic tried to get back into the game. They allowed opponents to shoot 46.3 percent from the field last season, but entered Saturday allowing opponents to shoot 42.3 percent this season.
