The Three Ds; Donovan, Darius and Defense

Five thoughts on the Cavs 114-100 win over the Lakers

Author:
Jon Rudder
Nov 7, 2022 6:00 AM EST

In this story:

The early moments of Sunday afternoon's Cavaliers-Lakers matchup at Crypto.com arena seemed almost cryptic.

LeBron James was 17-1 against his former team over stints with two different organizations. The Lakers were floundering and needed a reason go get up. In the blink of an eye, the Cavs were down 12 points, Russell Westbrook was emphatically pumping his fists after an and-1 and the sellout crowd was raucous.

Like that have so many times before, the Cavs withstood a punch early and fought back. They relied on the two things they have leaned on all season long: Donovan Mitchell and their team defense.

Both turned up in a big way when the Wine and Gold needed it most.

Mitchell and his back court running mate Darius Garland, re-inserted into the starting lineup after a one-game absence with minor injuries, did the heavy lifting in the first half. The Cavs locked the Lakers down defensively in the second half only surrendering 36 points over the final 24 minutes to come up with their 8th straight win 114-100.

Of their eight wins on this current streak, six of them have been by double digits. They've started this West coast road trip off with two key wins as they shift their attention to the other team in LA tomorrow, the Clippers.

FINAL: Cavaliers 114, Lakers 110

Double Trouble

Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell were held out of Friday night's tilt with the Pistons with minor injuries. Both Garland (sprained knee) and Mitchell (sprained ankle) were listed as "questionable" leading up to tipoff against the Lakers.

The Cavs didn't miss a beat without them on Friday night, drubbing the lowly Pistons 112-88. Sunday night, they would've been ran out of the building if it weren't for Garland and Mitchell.

The two each scored 21 first-half points to combined for 42 of the Cavs 58 first-half points. Cleveland trailed 66-58 at the break and aside from Caris LeVert who had eight first-half points, no other Cavalier even sniffed double figures.

Mitchell finished the night with 33 points and five rebounds. He said he struggled to find his 3-bal and was 1-for-7 from deep, but made it a point to get to the rim.

Boy did he. Mitchell was 12-of-13 from the free throw line.

Garland, meanwhile, racked up 24 points and seven assists. He was 7-of-7 from the stripe.

In scoring 21 points each agains the Lakers, it marked just the 5th time in the last 25 years in which multiple Cavs players had 20 or more points in the first half, according to Elias Sports.

When the Cavaliers swung the trade to acquire Mitchell, it was for days like this. When the secondary scoring was non-existent in the first-half, Garland and Mitchell put the Cavs on their backs and kept it close. It was a six-point game at half (66-58) which set the Wine and Gold up to go on a tear in the second half.

Foul Fest

Part of the reason that secondary scoring dried up, particularly in the first half was largely due to Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen getting into foul trouble. Mobley and Allen were each whistled for three fouls, limiting Allen to just nine minutes on the floor in the first half.

Mobley managed just 12 minutes of playing time because of his foul situation and neither scored a point over the first 24 minutes.

Having Mobley and Allen on the bench not only limited the Cavs production offensively, but severely limited their defensive capabilities.

The duo got things going in the second half. Allen kickstarted a 13-2 rally coming out of halftime with a dunk. He scored all 16 of his points in the second half and recorded his sixth double-double by pulling down 11 rebounds.

Mobley had a quieter half but was still impactful. He scored five points but was still impactful on the defensive end and was a plus-14.

Flipping The Script

With Allen and Mobley relegated to the bench, it opened up the paint for the Lakers.

Los Angeles is 29^th in the league with 9.5 triples per game while standing 30^th in three-point shooting by shooting a putrid 28.3-percent from downtown. For a team that struggles shooting the ball from deep, getting to the rim was going to be critical, particularly against the Cavs.

The Lakers doubled-up the Cavs in points in the paint 38-16 and second-chance points 14-7 in the first half with Mobley and Allen largely neutralized.

The Cavs flipped the script in the second half, holding a 32-18 edge in points in the paint and outscoring the Lakers in second chance points 11-2.

After allowing 16 points in the third quarter the Cavs came out in the 4^th quarter with a pair of big stops that turned into buckets the other direction. Defense to offense gave the Cavs the lead and they never looked back.

LeBron Connects From Deep

When looking through some post-game scribbles and pregame notes, it's surprising to see just how poorly LeBron is shooting. Coming into Sunday he was hovering around 20-percent from 3-point land.

Over the years, LeBron hasn't always been lights-out from deep, but he's always been more than respectable. Further illustrating how frustrating of a shooting year it's been so far for James, he connected on a 3 in the fourth quarter that snapped an 0-for-16 slump.

Bench Scoring Dries Up

Thankfully for the Cavs, Mitchell and Garland were tuned up for the Lakers. Mitchell, Garland, Allen and LeVert combined for 85 of the 114 points the Wine and Gold scored on Sunday.

Mobley had a down day offensively by his standards and could likely be attributed to the early foul trouble. Kevin Love provided 10 points off the bench and an eye-catching block on LeBron on the defensive end. He was 2-for-8 from deep and pulled down 10 boards.

Isaac Okoro played just five minutes and was held scoreless. Dean Wade posted just two points on a dunk to open the 4th quarter.

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