NBA: Golden State Warriors stunned by Sacramento Kings; LeBron James inspires Cleveland Cavaliers to victory

Oakland: Without Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant, the defending NBA champions went cold down the stretch. The defence didn’t do its part, either. Bogdan Bogdanovic made a go-ahead bank shot with 12.6 seconds left, lifting the Sacramento Kings over the Golden State Warriors 110-106 on Monday night with Curry and Durant sitting out injured. [caption id=“attachment_4231877” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Sacramento Kings’ Bogdan Bogdanovic (second from right) celebrates after scoring in the final seconds against the Golden State Warriors. AP[/caption] The Kings won for just the second time on the road — first since 20 October at Dallas — and ended an eight-game losing streak on Golden State’s home floor. Klay Thompson missed a 3-point try from the top of the arc with 3.5 seconds left, his fourth straight miss, and Golden State went 0 for 7 from the floor after Thompson’s 3 with 3:11 left. “Overall our defensive energy just wasn’t there tonight,” coach Steve Kerr said. “We just didn’t have the juice, we didn’t have the energy that we needed to stop them.” Thompson finished with 21 points on 7-for-20 shooting with five 3s. Second-year guard Patrick McCaw took Curry’s place in the starting lineup and scored a season-best 16 points with career highs of seven assists and four steals. Willie Cauley-Stein scored 19 points to lead six Kings in double figures and also had eight rebounds and six assists. George Hill had 16 points and Sacramento led 83-82 heading into the fourth. “We couldn’t get stops,” McCaw said. “When you don’t get stops you can’t convert.” Key Warriors backup Andre Iguodala, who was available with a sore left knee after beginning the day listed as doubtful, scored in double figures for a third straight game with 11 points. Curry has a bruised right hand and NBA Finals MVP Durant missed his fourth game in the last five because of a sprained left ankle. He played in a loss to the Thunder last Wednesday at his old Oklahoma City stomping grounds, though Kerr said afterward KD should have sat out that one, too. Reigning NBA Defensive Player of the Year Draymond Green was available despite a bruised right foot he said he injured in the first quarter of Saturday’s win against the Pelicans. He had 14 points and eight assists, including a lob to JaVale McGee for an alley-oop dunk late in the third. The Warriors had beaten Sacramento in 19 of 22 overall at Oracle Arena since a 105-98 defeat on 27 March, 2013. Sacramento had lost the last two in the series after stunning the Warriors 109-106 in overtime on 4 February at the Golden 1 Center. Detroit Pistons hand Celtics defeat at home In Boston, Andre Drummond scored 26 points with 22 rebounds — both season highs — and Tobias Harris scored 31 to lead the Detroit Pistons to a 118-108 victory on Monday night and send the Celtics to their first loss in Boston since their home opener. Drummond had 10 rebounds in the first quarter and 11 points in the last 5:36 to help Detroit win the matchup of old-school rivals who are once again the top teams in the Eastern Conference. Reggie Jackson scored 20 points with seven assists for the Pistons, who have won three of their last four. Marcus Smart scored 23 points, making 6 of 9 from 3-point range, and Kyrie Irving had 18 with nine assists for the Celtics. Boston has lost two of four since a 16-game winning streak. Detroit led by 11 points in the first quarter, but it was tied 100-all with 5:36 left before the Pistons pulled away thanks to eight straight points from Drummond. With just over three minutes left, the Pistons center stole a lazy inbound pass at midcourt and drove for the dunk, drawing a foul from Irving. Cavs romp to victory LeBron James had 30 points, 13 rebounds and six assists to lead Cleveland over Philadelphia. The three-time defending Eastern Conference champions won their eighth straight game. Dwyane Wade scored 15 points, and Jeff Green had 14 points and 10 rebounds. Joel Embiid had 30 points and 11 rebounds to pace the up-and-coming 76ers, who had won three straight and five of six. James scored the first nine points on his way to 22 in the first half, helping Cleveland to a 53-45 lead by draining a 3 in front of Cleveland’s bench at the first-half buzzer. Damian Lillard helps Portland to another win  Damian Lillard scored 32 points and Portland wrapped up a strong five-game road trip with its third straight victory. Pat Connaughton added 17 for the Trail Blazers, who also won at Memphis, Brooklyn and Washington while losing only in Philadelphia. They needed to come from 17 down in the fourth quarter to beat the Wizards last time out but were in charge of this one most of the way. Kristaps Porzingis returned from a one-game absence and scored 22 points, but the Knicks were without starting center Enes Kanter for a third straight game because of back spasms. They lost all three, falling back to .500 at 10-10.