Cavs show flashes of brilliance despite snapping streak in loss to Lakers

The Cavs winning streak ends in a road loss to the Lakers

The Cleveland Cavaliers snapped their three-game winning streak following a late collapse against a powerhouse Los Angeles Lakers team. Despite having the lead for a large chunk of the match, the Cavs eventually surrendered a 113-101 road loss.

Looking to secure a second-straight win at the Staples Center, Cleveland didn’t give an inch to their highly-favored opponents early, even briefly extending their lead to 11 in a midst of a huge rally in the first half. However, the Lakers went on their own mini-run to tie the game at the half.

With Ricky Rubio leading the charge, the Cavs threatened to pull away once more in the third period, until around the three-minute mark. The Cavaliers’ offense suddenly plateaued, a drought that continued through to the final quarter, dooming any chance of a comeback.

Rookie Evan Mobley shined for Cleveland for his second game in his hometown Los Angeles, dropping 23 points after shooting 10-for-16 from the field, while Rubio and forward Lauri Markkanen added a combined 35 markers.

Meanwhile, Darius Garland also had a day to finish with a double-double of 18 points and 11 assists, but backcourt partner Collin Sexton had a pretty dismal outing just two days after having an impressive showing against the Clippers.

On the other hand, they had few answers against four of the Lakers’ past and present All-Stars. Former Cavalier LeBron James led all scorers with 26 markers, but it was Carmelo Anthony who shot down Cleveland with his clutch baskets late in the game to finish with 24 for LA.

Cavs displayed plenty of good, and bad

Head coach J.B. Bickerstaff’s experiment of playing the NBA’s tallest starting frontcourt of Evan Mobley, Lauri Markkanen, and Jarrett Allen continues to mostly work. But they have also struggled against certain lineups put out by an equally towering Lakers team.

While Allen mostly made his presence felt on the defensive end, the other two Tower City members supplied the scoring: Mobley tallied a career-high thus far in his young career, while Markkanen balled out with his best shooting game since joining the team.

The young squad looked quite brilliant in stretches but just didn’t have enough against the star-studded Lakers team. There remains to be plenty of positives to build on, but the same problems also continued to rear their ugly heads. Quite different from the other night against the Clippers.

Cleveland has yet to find ways to consistently close out games by stringing together a solid defensive effort as well as putting points on the board when it matters; not to mention capitalizing on their size to dominate on the boards.

Sure, those are easier said than done against an equally tall team with several All-Star talents, but the Cavs could have done better. At least they shot the ball fairly well and proved that they would not cower against a formidable opponent in a hostile environment on the road. Overall, a very solid outing despite figuring in a loss.

Now the Cavaliers will have a less than 24-hour turnaround for another chance to test their mettle against another contender when they face the recent NBA finalists Phoenix Suns, before making one final stop in their grueling west coast road trip against the Charlotte Hornets.