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SACRAMENTO, Calif. - The Sacramento Kings didn't get too excited about the best defensive performance in Arco Arena history. After all, it was only the first game of the season - and the opponent was Cleveland.
Peja Stojakovic scored 17 points and Chris Webber had 14 rebounds as the Kings opened a season of great expectations with a 94-67 victory over the Cavaliers on Tuesday night.
Opening fright: Kings demolish Cavs 103002 sports 1 The Juneau Empire Online SACRAMENTO, Calif. - The Sacramento Kings didn't get too excited about the best defensive performance in Arco Arena history. After all, it was only the first game of the season - and the opponent was Cleveland.
Peja Stojakovic scored 17 points and Chris Webber had 14 rebounds as the Kings opened a season of great expectations with a 94-67 victory over the Cavaliers on Tuesday night.

Opening fright: Kings demolish Cavs

Boozer scores four points in Cleveland's 94-67 loss

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - The Sacramento Kings didn't get too excited about the best defensive performance in Arco Arena history. After all, it was only the first game of the season - and the opponent was Cleveland.

Peja Stojakovic scored 17 points and Chris Webber had 14 rebounds as the Kings opened a season of great expectations with a 94-67 victory over the Cavaliers on Tuesday night.

Gerald Wallace scored 15 points and Damon Jones had 18 in his debut for the defending Pacific Division champions, who unveiled the first banner for team success ever hung at Arco Arena.

They spent the next two hours playing dismally on offense and not much better on defense - but thanks to Cleveland's 24 turnovers and 32 percent shooting, Sacramento held the Cavs to the lowest score by an opponent since the Kings moved to Northern California in 1985.

"It sure didn't feel like a record," said Webber, who scored just nine points on 4-of-13 shooting. "I'm just glad we got an ugly game out of the way. We wouldn't be ready for the playoffs if they started today. We need the whole 82-game season to find out where we are."



The Carlos Boozer Archive

Wearing their new purple road uniforms and playing without their starting backcourt of Doug Christie and Mike Bibby, the Kings had no trouble with the Cavaliers, who got 17 points from Ricky Davis.

Juneau-Douglas High School alum Carlos Boozer played 12 minutes off the bench for Cleveland and scored four points on 2-for-6 shooting. Boozer had three rebounds - all offensive - and one steal in his first regular-season NBA game.

The raucous pregame ceremony demonstrated that Arco Arena hasn't lost a decibel of noise since last June, when the Kings lost Game 7 of the Western Conference finals in overtime to the Los Angeles Lakers here.

"(The banner) up there is great, but it's not what we want," Kings owner Joe Maloof told the crowd before the game. "You know what we want."

Christie began a two-game suspension for his preseason fight with Rick Fox of the Lakers; Bibby will be out for about a month while his broken foot heals. Bibby missed just his third game in five NBA seasons, while Christie missed just his third game in three years with Sacramento.

Bobby Jackson, looking a bit overanxious while starting in Bibby's place, had six points and five assists. Jones, a well-traveled veteran signed last week to back up Jackson, hit three 3-pointers in the first half and immediately fit into the Kings' free-flowing offense as they pulled away in the second half.

"In the preseason, I had a lot of open shots that I didn't make," Jones said. "I've been working on my shot extra in practice. I thought it paid off."

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The Cavaliers - playing without their top two centers, their top rookie and their coach - took their first loss in what's certain to be a long season for a team that won 29 games last season and then traded its top three scorers, including NBA assists leader Andre Miller.

Former Cleveland forward Lamond Murray believes the Cavs are tanking the season to improve their chances of drafting Ohio high school phenom LeBron James next fall. Coach John Lucas missed the game because of a two-game suspension for holding offseason workouts with James.

"They came out in the third quarter and started going up and down really well," Cavs assistant coach Jerry Eaves said. "We couldn't hang with them. It was good for us to play in this type of environment, though. It's the loudest gym in the league, and I'm glad we had the opportunity to come in here early."

Rookie Dajuan Wagner's NBA debut must wait until he recovers from a bladder infection, while center Zydrunas Ilgauskas was suspended because of his no-contest plea to drunken-driving charges. Backup center Chris Mihm also didn't dress due to a strained hamstring.

"A big factor was not having our big men in there, but we'll be all right," said Darius Miles, who had 13 points on 6-of-22 shooting and 10 rebounds. "I played bad, but I gave my team all I could. Things are going to be like that. It's going to be an up-and-down season. It's going to be a long season."

The Kings won for the sixth time in the clubs' last seven meetings. They led 44-32 at halftime and pulled away with a 20-8 run in the third, never facing a serious challenge despite making 20 turnovers.

"After the first half, I thought we did all right," Kings coach Rick Adelman said. "I don't know what was going on in the first quarter. Both teams looked like they'd never played before."



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