With seven players in double figures, the short-handed Lakers pulled out a road win against the Cavaliers.
The Lakers were short-handed entering their matchup with the Cleveland Cavaliers but still managed to pull off the win, beating LeBron James’ previous team 121-115.
Scoring wasn’t an issue for L.A. as the team had seven players in double figures with Anthony Davis leading the way with 32 points. He also contributed 13 rebounds and three blocks.
LeBron James was elite as well scoring 22 points along with six assists and four rebounds.
Jaxson Hayes stepped up big scoring 10 points and Christian Wood contributed 13 points off the bench as well.
The Lakers are now 10-7 on the season.
Los Angeles got off to a good start during the early minutes of the first quarter, leading by as many as eight points. Max Christie started the game in lieu of Cam Reddish’s absence and made a positive impact with a couple of dunks to help ignite the Lakers’ offense.
James, already dealing with a left calf contusion, suffered another injury during the game. This time, it was a shot to the face in the first quarter, but luckily, it just required minor medical assistance and didn’t result in James missing significant time during the game.
Despite the excellent start, the Lakers still gave up 40 points in the first and trailed by six heading into the second.
Throughout the remainder of the first half, the Lakers explored bigger lineups, putting Jaxson Hayes and Christian Wood in the frontcourt at the same time.
Wood shined in these minutes, scoring all of his points in the first half and Hayes was a perfect 5-5 from the field, contributing 10 points himself to help the Lakers stay in the game trailing by just one heading into the break.
Both teams exchanged baskets in the third and Davis caught fire, scoring 15 points in the third alone, but Los Angeles didn’t gain any ground as they entered the fourth still down one.
With 12 minutes left trailing on the road, the purple and gold needed a scoring run to edge out the Cavs.
James got things going with an assist to Taurean Prince, followed by a three-pointer to give the Lakers a four-point advantage with a little over ten minutes left.
At the 7:48 mark, Davis returned to the game and immediately made an impact, finishing a James lob. Unfortunately, Cleveland responded with an alley-oop of their own, finished by Jarret Allen, to cut the deficit back down to one.
L.A. responded by going on a 7-0 run as the Cavs suffered a scoring drought midway through the quarter.
Cleveland had another run left, getting within one, but after a missed free throw, a James driving floater followed by an empathic dunk from the King, the Lakers could breathe a sigh of relief. Reaves hit a couple of free throws to extend the lead to four and the game was in the refrigerator.
Key Takeaways
Davis was the biggest star tonight but Hayes and Wood deserve credit for keeping the Lakers in the game during the first half.
In the pregame presser, head coach Darvin Ham mentioned the “next man up mentality” required to win and Hayes and Wood’s combined 23 points off the bench exemplify that.
The Lakers will continue their road trip on Monday against the Philadelphia 76ers.
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