Lakers rally behind Anthony Davis in road win against the Cavaliers
CLEVELAND — The Los Angeles Lakers earned their third road win of the season thanks to a big second half from Anthony Davis to beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 121–115 on Saturday.
After their big road win in front of an admiringly loud Cleveland crowd for Lebron James, the Lakers have won seven of their last 10 games with an overall 10–7 record.
The Lakers battled throughout with the Cavs in a back-and-forth high-scoring contest that had 16 lead changes and nine ties, with a 71-70 score at the end of the first half, before buckling down in the end by allowing just 43 points in the second half.
Davis had a quiet nine-point first half before erupting and taking control with a 23-point second-half performance.
“He was just in attack mode, like there was a play to be made,” head coach Darvin Ham said on Davis’ outing. “We needed all 23 of those. It was great to see him step up and provide that scoring punch.”
Davis finished with a season-high 32 points on 13–20 (65%) shooting with 13 rebounds, three blocks, three assists and two steals in 37 minutes of action.
Back in front of his hometown crowd, LeBron was embraced with beloved cheers from the Cleveland crowd, where he brought the city their first NBA championship back in 2016.
“It’s always special to come back here,” LeBron said on his return to Cleveland.
LeBron finished with 22 points on 23 shot attempts from the field, making eight for 34.7%, adding six rebounds, six assists, two blocks and two steals in 35 minutes.
Due to the injury bug plaguing stronger than anyone expected early on, the Lakers were forced to go into this matchup with an eight-man rotation, with Rui Hachimura, Jarred Vanderbilt and Gabe Vincent out of the lineup.
With their eight-man rotation, seven Lakers finished with double figures in scoring.
Already thin at point guard, Austin Reaves provided the Lakers with playmaking as a passer with a season-high 10 assists off the bench.
Reaves finished with 15 points on 4–8 (50%) shooting overall, with five rebounds and two steals in 32 minutes.
Max Christie stepped up in the absence of Reddish with high effort on both ends, scoring 12 points on 5–7 (71.4%) shooting and having a huge on-ball defensive sequence in the final possessions on Cleveland's Donovan Mitchell.
“Whenever he has the opportunity to make an imprint on the game, he does,” Reaves said of Christie’s impact.
D’Angelo Russell, Christian Wood, and Jaxson Hayes were the remaining Lakers to score in double figures, with Russell and Hayes tallying 10 points each, while Wood recorded 13 points.
The Lakers will play their second game of a four-game road stretch on Tuesday against the 11-5 Philadelphia 76ers at Wells Fargo Center at 4 p.m
