Lakers fall to Cavs as Davis exits early.
CLEVELAND — The Lakers fell to the Cavaliers 116–102 as Anthony Davis left the game early in the first quarter due to flu-like symptoms, snapping a three-game winning streak and moving their season record to 10–13.
According to head coach Darvin Ham, Anthony Davis had a fever of 101 degrees before the game. He tried to push through his fever but left after playing for just 8 minutes.
“It progressively got worse,” said Darvin Ham of Davis’ illness. “He felt just too weak, drained, and dehydrated."
Despite Davis’ early exit, the Lakers were in this game until the turnovers and inconsistencies from three caught up to them, shooting a season-low 16% (6-for-36) from deep and committing 16 total turnovers.
The Lakers had no answer for the Cavs' new star, Donnavan Mitchell, who had a stat line of 43 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists, and 4 steals in 39 minutes.
With the absence of Anthony Davis, the Lakers looked to LeBron James to get them in the win column, doing all he could on a not-so-100 % ankle.
"Next man up, but that's a tall task," said LeBron on Davis’ early exit. “We had to switch up our whole game plan.”
LeBron finished with a team-high 21 points on 47% (8-for-17) shooting, adding 17 rebounds (3 shy of a career-high) and 4 assists in 35 minutes.
In his return home game in Cleveland, LeBron discussed a moment of gratitude to his hometown team, saying: “It’s always love coming back here. The memories that I have here will never be forgotten.”
One of the sole reasons the Lakers stood neck and neck with Cleveland was due to the help from their bench, which scored 52 points.
Thomas Bryant led the way for the Lakers bench with a bench high of 19 points and 9 rebounds, shooting 66% (8-for-12) from the field.
Russell Westbrook continued his hot hand from the bench, giving the Lakers some spurts of momentum and energy with 16 points, 3 rebounds, and 3 assists in 26 minutes.
The Lakers will continue their fourth game of a six-game road trip this Wednesday against the 12–12 Toronto Raptors at 4:30 PM on Spectrum SportsNet.
