CLEVELAND — The Cavaliers , suddenly the hottest team in the NBA , extended their winning streak to six games with a 136-110 win over the Sacramento Kings Monday night at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse .
The Cavs had won 13 of their last 14 games entering Monday night dating back to Jan. 3, propelling them to a half-game behind the Milwaukee Bucks for the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference.
Cavs point guard Darius Garland , who only recently returned after a difficult rehab from jaw surgery in which he was eating through a straw , was questionable with knee soreness but eventually started the game.
The Cavs (32-16) weren't the only streaking team in the building, as the Kings (29-20) were 5-1 on their current road trip.
Updates from the game will appear here as the night unfolds.
Below is some pregame information. Keep checking back throughout the game.
The Cavs have called off the dogs. Up 131-105 with 2:30 remaining, J.B. Bickerstaff has pulled all his starters, and the Kings are following suit. This one's over.
Donovan Mitchell got caught with his plant foot down and had nowhere to go — until he threw an alley-oop pass to himself off the backboard and dunked it home. It put the Cavs up 120-103, and it's one of the highlight plays of the season.
Mitchell also has a Sportscenter Top-10 worthy dunk earlier tonight and a 4-point play.
The Kings momentarily cut the Cavs' lead to 10, but Cleveland's 3-point barrage is proving to be too much. Dean Wade buried a 3 from the corner, and Caris LeVert then hit back-to-back 3s to push the Cavaliers' lead out to 117-101 with eight minutes to go.
The Cavs have hit 22 3s out of 37 attempts tonight.
The Cavs are still shooting better than 50 percent from 3-point range — that'll work for Cleveland. Donovan Mitchell has a team-high 27 points with five assists. Max Strus has added 20 points on 7-of-11 from the floor. Evan Mobley is one point from a double-double with nine points and 13 rebounds, along with five assists.
Domantas Sabonis has his triple-double, now with 12 points, 17 rebounds and 13 assists.
Donovan Mitchell isn't the only Cavalier with a 4-point play. Darius Garland has also pulled that off, drilling a 3 as he was knocked to the floor and then sinking the free throw.
Only a few moments later, in transition, Donovan Mitchell threw down a dunk that might rival Allen's poster from earlier as the dunk of the night.
It's been a highlight-reel night for the Cavs. They've poured in 93 points and the game is only halfway through the third quarter, with Cleveland up 93-80.
Max Strus is scrappy.
Strus followed his own miss of a 3-point attempt by racing to the hoop, swiping the ball from Sabonis and converting the steal of a layup. The next time down the floor, no follow was needed — Strus drilled a 3-pointer that extended the Cavs' lead to 85-69. Strus has 17 points tonight.
Donovan Mitchell and the Cavs are rolling again. Behind 19 points and four assists from Mitchell, and the Cavs hitting 59.1 percent of their 3-point attempts, Cleveland has built a 15-point lead at the half.
Mitchell closed out the half with a 2-and-1 that ended with a high-5 with a young kid who was sitting courtside. De'Aaron Fox then hit a layup as time expired.
Jarrett Allen has 10 points, four rebounds and two assists. For the Kings, Domantas Sabonis is one basket away from a first-half triple-double with eight points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists with two full quarters to go.
The Cavs are leading 65-50 because they're draining 60 percent from their 3-point attempts, but Jarrett Allen has the highlight of the night. Off of an entry pass from Donovan Mitchell, Allen dunked it one-handed right over Kings guard Kevin Huerter. The poster extended the Cavs lead, and that was followed with a Sam Merrill 3-pointer.
The Cavs on pace to really pour it on tonight. They hit the 50 mark with 8:24 left in the second quarter via an Isaac Okoro 3-pointer from the corner, his second of the night.
But their defense, the league's best since December 1, is having its own issues against this Kings offense, which is shooting 47 percent from the floor to keep them within striking distance.
This one is packed with scoring early on. The Cavs are shooting 60 percent from the floor and 66.7 percent from 3-point range (with eight makes), and the Kings have just about kept that pace.
Donovan Mitchell has a game-high 13 points. Max Strus is 3-of-5 from 3-point range for nine points. Darius Garland has seven points. Both teams are just hoisting and sinking 3s. Keegan Murray leads the Kings with 10 points.
Yeah, Donovan Mitchell seems just fine.
Mitchell drained a 3-pointer while drawing the foul and hit the ensuing free throw for a four-point play. And with 2:48 left in the first quarter, Mitchell has a game-high 13 points.
This one is on pace to be a shootout. Both the Cavs and Kings have hit six 3s so far.
The Cavs received some good news and then almost immediately ran into some bad news.
Darius Garland and Jarrett Allen, both questionable, are both starting Monday night's game. It'll be another game in which the entire starting lineup is healthy, which has been rarer than the Cavs would like this season.
But a few minutes in, Donovan Mitchell seemed to be favoring and flexing his right hand after a mid-air collision near the rim. He was down for a moment but stayed in the game and even converted a dunk the next time down the floor, and he appears to be fine.
Mitchell then drained a 3-pointer to give the Cavs a 15-14 lead with 5:53 left in the first quarter.
Garland is questionable with left knee soreness.
Cavs center Jarrett Allen is questionable with a left ankle sprain.
Backup center Tristan Thompson is still serving his 25-game suspension for testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs .
For the Kings , Sasha Vezenkov is questionable with a right ankle sprain.
The game will be televised locally on Bally Sports Ohio and broadcast on the radio via WTAM (1100-AM), WMMS (100.7-FM) and WNZN (89.1-FM).
Ryan Lewis can be reached at rlewis1@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter and Threads at @ByRyanLewis .
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Cavs vs. Kings: Live game score, updates and highlights
