LOS ANGELES — Struggles from 3-point range and a high-powered Cleveland Cavaliers team were too much for the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday, falling 122-110 to the top-ranked team in the NBA on New Year's Eve.
“Have to play close to perfect basketball,” head coach JJ Redick said on the key to taking down the NBA’s top team.
The Lakers' second loss to the Cavaliers this season completes a season sweep by Cleveland, dropping L.A. to 18-14 overall and 10-5 at Crypto.com Arena.
Here are takeaways from the Lakers loss to the Cavs:
3-Point Discrepancy
Hurting teams from three has been Cleveland's recipe for their success all season, ranking first in the NBA in 3-point percentage. That same formula hurt the Lakers most of the night with the Cavaliers hitting 18 threes, nine more threes than L.A., who made just nine on 25.7 percent.
“I thought we generated good looks, and they didn't go down,” Redick said.
Cleveland finished the night hitting 39.1 percent of their shots from behind the arc, one percent less than their season average.
Donovan Mitchell, who scored 26 points with six made three-pointers, and Max Strus, who added 15 points off the bench on four three-pointers, were the key catalysts in Cleveland's strong shooting night.
Trio Firepower, Lackluster Bench
The Lakers' trio of LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and Austin Reaves combined for 86 of the team’s 110 points, but a lackluster bench performance—contributing just 12 points on 5-of-19 shooting (26%)—proved costly. The Cavaliers’ bench nearly tripled that output with 32 points.
Reaves tied his career high with 35 points, falling just short of a triple-double with 10 assists and nine rebounds.
Davis delivered a dominant performance with 28 points, 13 rebounds, four assists, three steals, and two blocks. This is the ninth time in the last 10 games that he has notched a double-double—the one game he left due to injury against the Warriors and didn't return—and his 23rd overall.
James, who turned 40 on Monday, contributed 23 points on a 53% (nine-for-17) shooting from the floor with seven assists and four boards.
The Debuts of the New Additions
New additions Dorian Finney-Smith and Shake Milton, who the Lakers acquired via trade from the Brooklyn Nets on Sunday for D’Angelo Russell, Maxwell Lewis and three second-round picks, made their debuts for the purple and gold.
In 20 minutes off the bench, Finney-Smith made one shot on four attempts from the floor with two points, two assists and two rebounds.
Play calls were a key focus for Finney-Smith to learn, admitting he didn’t know any of them during the game. He relied on his teammates to guide him on how to navigate the offense.
Milton, who hit his first shot attempt, a corner three, finished with six points (two rebounds) on two-for-four shooting from three in 10 minutes off the bench.
Adjusting to the team's playbook and building on-court chemistry with teammates will be a learning curve for L.A.'s new additions, but playing two home games over the next four days should aid the process.
Next Game
The Lakers next two matchups will be back-to-back games on Thursday and Friday against the Portland Trail Blazers and Atlanta Hawks (both games at 7:30 p.m.)