Porous Cavaliers defense lead to late collapse vs. the Lakers

Cleveland Cavaliers left in awe by former hometown star

The Cleveland Cavaliers appeared overwhelmed with the return of hometown hero LeBron James, conceding a 131-120 stinker to his Los Angeles Lakers. Despite a strong start, the Cavs practically threw in the white towel in an ugly fourth-quarter collapse.

Leading by a single point after three quarters of going mano a mano, the Cavaliers appeared to have lost their mojo following a 12-2 LA run to open the final period. It all went downhill from there for the home team, allowing the visitors to run amok in their building.

On the brighter side of things, young Cavaliers All-Star guard Darius Garland remained stellar as he continued a streak of point-assist double-doubles, leading the team in scoring with 29 points while also dishing out a game-high 17 dimes.

Starters Lauri Markkanen, Lamar Stevens, and Isaac Okoro also played up to standard, combining for 46 markers while shooting 71 percent from the field in another balanced offensive attack.

However, star rookie Evan Mobley was severely limited after falling prey to foul trouble, leaving the Cavs without a true center to protect the rim for most of the night.

The visiting team took advantage of the gap in the middle to drop 64 huge points on Cleveland within the shaded area, led by another masterful performance by James, who tallied another triple-double of 38, 11, and 12 as the Lakers ran away with the victory.

Cavs still holding on to sixth place in the standings

Cleveland’s defensive effort against the Lakers left a lot to be desired, especially when their only rim protector in uniform has been forced to sit on the bench due to foul trouble. LA just kept bombarding the paint and got their way against defense-impaired players like Kevin Love or Lauri Markkanen manning the middle.

Whether or not Jarrett Allen’s broken finger can heal up in time and allow him to rejoin the team sometime within the ten remaining games is paramount to the Cavaliers’ postseason aspirations.

The team reserves the right to remain anxious while in sixth place with a 41-31 record, being 1.5 games behind the Chicago Bulls but still only one full game ahead of the Toronto Raptors–whom they still hold a head-to-head tiebreaker advantage over.

To pad the lead and avoid sliding down to play-in territory, it is of utmost importance that the Cleveland Cavaliers return with a win from the trip up north to visit the Raptors on March 24.