CLEVELAND — The Lakers avoided a potential disaster when star guard Luka Dončić returned to Wednesday night’s matchup against the Cavaliers late in the first quarter after taking a scary fall into the stands just a few minutes into the game.
But what they didn’t avoid was another double-digit loss in LeBron James’ return to northeast Ohio, with uncertainty about his NBA future beyond this season.
The Lakers were blown out by the Cavaliers 129-99 at Rocket Arena during a game in which James uncharacteristically struggled in front of a crowd showering him with adoration throughout the evening.
Dončić finished with 29 points, six assists and five rebounds after returning, but the Cavaliers outscored the Lakers 72-44 in the second half, including 42-22 in the third, for their fifth consecutive win.
James finished with 11 points on 3-of-10 shooting to go with six turnovers, five assists and three rebounds.
The only time the Cleveland crowd cheered louder than it did for James?
When his son and teammate, Bronny James, scored eight points in the fourth quarter – a dunk and a pair of 3-pointers – during garbage time when the Cavaliers had full control.
What does it mean?
The Lakers will have to wait even longer to go on a three-game winning streak – something they’ve done once since the end of November.
They also dropped to 28-18 on the season, maintaining their No. 5 spot in the Western Conference standings and 3-2 on the “Grammy” trip.
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Turning point
There were two distinct moments Wednesday: when the Cavaliers took control of the game, and when they grabbed it by the throat, ensuring the Lakers were going to suffer another double-digit loss.
The first happened immediately after halftime, when the Cavaliers outscored the Lakers 19-10 in the opening few minutes of the third quarter to take a 76-65 lead after making seven of their first eight shots, including four 3-pointers.
The Cavaliers still had the game under control after calling timeout at the 4:29 mark of the quarter after a James layup in transition cut the Lakers’ deficit to 82-70.
Rui Hachimura, who went scoreless in 18 minutes after missing all seven of his shot attempts, passed up a corner 3 attempt and turned over the ball on the Lakers’ first possession after the timeout. That led to a De’Andre Hunter layup in transition that started a 17-7 Cleveland run to close the quarter, with the Cavaliers leading 99-77 starting the fourth.
MVP: Jaylon Tyson
The second-year wing continued his strong season, finishing with 20 points, six rebounds and six assists in 29 minutes.
He was also the recipient of a couple of offensive fouls against James, who struggled to get into a rhythm for most of Wednesday.
Stat of the game: 28.1%
After having one of their best shooting games of the season in Monday’s win over the Bulls in Chicago, the Lakers followed it with one of their worst.
They knocked down just nine of their 32 3s against the Cavaliers, including 5 of 18 in the second half.
Dončić (3 of 8 on 3s) and Gabe Vincent (11 points; 3 of 4 on 3s) were the only Lakers to knock down a shot from beyond the arc until Bronny James made a pull-up 3 with 2:53 left.
Dalton Knecht made a late 3 in garbage time before the younger James made another 3, leading to loud cheers from the Cleveland crowd.
Up next
The Lakers’ trip will continue with a matchup against the Wizards on Friday.
It’ll be their second-to-last city of the trip before playing two games in New York, with matchups against the Knicks on Sunday and Nets on Tuesday, respectively.
