The Los Angeles Lakers went into Tuesday night’s game winners of three straight, although those were all against tanking teams.
They faced some much stiffer competition with the Cleveland Cavaliers coming to town, but L.A. did welcome Luka Doncic back to the lineup after serving his one-game suspension. As a result, the Lakers cruised to yet another victory, beating the Cavaliers 127-113 to earn their 50th win of the season.
Jarrett Allen had the first six points of the game to get the Cavaliers off to a nice start before LeBron James got the Lakers on the board against his former team. Doncic eventually got going and then James had a dunk in transition to tie it at 13 after the slow start.
The Cavaliers were hot from deep in the first quarter, and Doncic and James tried to match them with 3-pointers of their own, although the Lakers still trailed 34-32 going into the second.
L.A. began to lock in defensively early in the second with Jake LaRavia making an impact on both sides of the ball to give his team the lead. Austin Reaves then got fouled on a 3-pointer, which help him get past a solid start offensively.
To close the first half, Deandre Ayton was doing work on the offensive glass while Doncic continued his hot shooting. LaRavia then put Allen on a poster as everything was going right for the Lakers, taking a 65-53 lead into the break.
The Lakers came out throwing lobs left and right to begin the third quarter. Reaves and Doncic both found Ayton, and then Reaves found James in transition. With Doncic hot from deep and the defense still locked in, the Lakers kept extending their lead all the way up to 20.
They didn’t stop to end the third quarter as Rui Hachimura and LaRavia hit triples to give L.A. a 110-83 advantage going into the fourth, effectively putting the game out of reach.
In fact, with it being the second night of a back-to-back for both teams, the Cavaliers emptied their bench to begin the fourth quarter. To their credit though, the Cleveland reserves kept competing hard while the Lakers took their foot off the gas a bit.
With the lead getting all the way down to 14, Doncic was forced to come back into the game, although the Lakers eventually were able to close it out and were never in danger.
What’s next for the Lakers…
The Lakers will now head out on a quick two-game road trip, starting with a tough test against the top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday night and then finishing with the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday.
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