Tristan Thompson, Rajon Rondo, Kyrie Irving

Cleveland Cavaliers guard Kyrie Irving, right, uses a screen by teammate Tristan Thompson, left, to get away from Sacramento Kings guard Rajon Rondo during the first quarter of an NBA basketball game, Wednesday, March 9, 2016, in Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)

(AP)

SACRAMENTO - Kevin Love missed, missed and missed some more. But when his team desperately needed a bucket in the final minutes, he drained a huge 3-pointer, was fouled and converted the four-point play.

That gave the Cavaliers a seven-point lead with 1:32 left and was the key moment in a 120-111 triumph over the Sacramento Kings (25-38) on Wednesday night.

Kyrie Irving scored a game-high 30 points and LeBron James supplied 25 points, 11 rebounds and six assists.

Cleveland (44-18) placed heavy emphasis on getting Love going. In his previous six contests, he connected on only 22 of 66 attemps from the field, averaging 12.8 points an outing.

James was seen yelling at his teammates to feed Love the ball. Head coach Tyronn Lue took the blame for Love's recent struggles.

"That's on me," he said. "I've got to get Kevin in better positions, better spots to be more of a factor and that's on me. He's not really struggling. The way we've been trying to implement different things offensively, he's kind of gotten lost in the shuffle. That's on me to make sure he plays better."

Even with his teammates looking for him, Love still labored. Before that 4-point play, he was 3-of-12 from the field and 1-of-7 from downtown. However, it's about how you finish, not start. He ended with 17 points and 10 rebounds.

Timofey Mozgov missed the game to treat his flu-like symptoms, leaving Tristan Thompson the difficult task of trying to contain DeMarcus Cousins. Thompson did an admirable job. Cousins registered 29 points, but was 8-of-22 from the floor. And Thompson made him work on the other end by producing 18 points and 15 monster boards.

Sacramento Kings head coach George Karl said he would warn his group that the Cavaliers would be itching to rebound after Monday's embarrassing home loss to shorthanded Memphis.

The first half was an extension of the Cavaliers' issues versus the Grizzlies. Again, Cleveland showed very little interest in competing -- especially on defense. Because of that, mental lapses occurred.

J.R. Smith, who leads the team in fouling players in the process of shooting threes, made that error once again in the second quarter, called for his hand on Caron Butler's hip. The shot was good as Smith held his head in disbelief. Fortunately for the Cavaliers, Butler missed the free throw.

After being down six at the half, Cleveland snoozed through the first minute of the third. Sacramento went on a 5-0 run to go up 11 and Lue immediately called a timeout with a disgusted look on his face.

His team responded, scoring eight straight points. From there, Cleveland picked up the pace. Sacramento couldn't keep up -- bending down, clutching their shorts with fatigue. On one transition break, James raced up the floor and Quincy Acy clobbered him, but James was still strong enough to get off an off-balance bank shot that found the bottom of the net.

To close out the third, Irving went one-on-one with Rajon Rondo and knocked down a step-back trey to beat the buzzer. Cleveland had a five-point lead entering the final quarter as well as the momentum.

Lue picked up his first technical as head coach foul five minutes into the fourth. You could tell it energized his team. Irving scored eight in the quarter and the Cavaliers pulled down seven massive offensive boards to take the soul out of the Kings.

It was a tale of two halves. The first has been seen too often lately. But they finished the right way. Just like Love.

On deck

Cleveland will play its third game in four days, visiting the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday. It will be the final time James and Kobe Bryant square off. The tip is at 10:30 p.m. on TNT.