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Wednesday, Nov. 1 7:30pm ET
Murray scores all six in second OT | |||||
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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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 GAME FLOW
CLEVELAND (AP) -- As Matt Harpring stepped to the foul line for a final jump ball against Chris Webber, his legs cramped up while his mind focused on one thing. "I was just praying we wouldn't go to a third overtime," Harpring said. Harpring's prayer was answered when Lamond Murray, who scored all six of Cleveland's points in the second overtime, slapped the ball away from Doug Christie just before the final buzzer Wednesday night as the Cavaliers won their home opener, 102-100 over the Sacramento Kings. Murray, who finished with 18 points, reached in and poked the ball away as Christie was about to go up for a potential game-tying shot. "When Christie got the ball, we just smothered him," Harpring said. Andre Miller had 17 points and eight assists for the Cavs before falling hard and bruising his right knee in the second overtime. Clarence Weatherspoon, who came over in the Shawn Kemp trade and is one of six new players on Cleveland's roster, added 14 points and 11 rebounds. Center Zydrunas Ilgauskas, attempting to come back after missing most of the past two seasons with foot injuries, added 10 points for the Cavs. Chris Webber scored 27 points in 50 minutes and Predrag Stojakovic had 23 for the second straight night for the Kings, whose offense was out of rhythm all night without point guard Jason Williams. The flashy point guard sat out the second game of his five-game suspension for failing to comply with the NBA's drug treatment plan. "It's a tough loss," said Kings coach Rick Adelman. "We had so many chances to win and we made a nice comeback. It was one of those games, it could have gone either way. They're the ones who did it." The Cavaliers have pledged that this season will be different than 1999 when an overweight Kemp slowed them down and they finished 32-50, missing the playoffs for a second straight year. Coach Randy Wittman has been drilling three things into his team since training camp opened -- energy, effort and enthusiasm -- and the Cavs displayed all those characteristics to a raucous crowd of 17,695. "We hustled and are a very scrappy team," said Chris Gatling, another of the Cavs' new players. "We all pull for each other. This win means a lot. We now know we can do it as long as we dig deep." Murray had missed his first five free-throw attempts this season before sinking two with 1:44 remaining to give the Cavs a 102-100 lead. Webber then missed inside and Ilgauskas, playing with a passion he hadn't shown before being hurt, ripped a rebound away from two Kings players with 1:22 to play. Sacramento got it back but Christie missed an off-balance shot with 29 seconds remaining. However, the Kings got another chance when Weatherspoon didn't pull the trigger with an open look with eight seconds left, causing a 24-second violation. Weatherspoon then tipped away an inbounds pass, but Webber tied up Harpring to force a jump ball. "It's all about wanting it," Weatherspoon said. "This team wants it." Webber won the tap easily to Christie, but Murray quickly knocked the ball and the Cavs bench spilled onto the floor as if they had just won a playoff game. "You can tell the love we have here the way we huddled up after the game," Gatling said. "You saw the unity we are going to have here. From what I heard that was not always the case last year." The Cavs have promised their fans 100 percent effort every night, and the team didn't disappoint by showing more spark than they did last season when they staggered to a 32-50 finish. Cleveland rallied from four points down in the final 1:36 of overtime to tie it 96-all on Weatherspoon's off-balance shot in the lane. Wesley Person's inside basket at the regulation buzzer sent it to overtime tied 88-88 after the Kings used a 20-7 run over the final 6:30 to take an 88-86 lead with 3.9 seconds remaining. Game notesThe Cavs have won 15 of 16 at home against the Kings. ... Sacramento went 34-of-40 from the line. ... While waiting for the Cavs to return from a timeout in the first quarter, Stojakovic grabbed the ball from referee Dee Kantner and shot a practice free throw. Wittman screamed in protest, but was told to get his team on the floor more quickly. ... Cleveland's last double-overtime game was on Jan. 11, 1997, a 107-102 win over the Los Angeles Clippers. | ALSO SEE NBA Scoreboard Sacramento Clubhouse Cleveland Clubhouse Sprewell whets Knicks fans' appetite with Webber mention
RECAPS Boston 103 Detroit 83
Cleveland 102
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