A close-fought battle between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Cleveland Cavaliers kept the crowd on its feet at the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse Arena. A disappointing loss for Cavs fans as the entire Lakers squad was able to have their way throughout the four quarters, rallying behind Anthony Davis.

A heartbreaking loss for the Cavaliers turned out to be a glorious return for LeBron James to his hometown, Cleveland. Here are three takeaways from tonight’s matchup between the Lakers and the Cavaliers.

LeBron James and the Lakers with a successful road win

The Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers with a final score of 121-115. The entire Lakers roster performed phenomenally and the ball rotation was something to be lauded. 

Despite having an off-night, Donovan Mitchell still led his team in scoring with 22 points on 4-18 shooting from the field. While the blame can be pinned on Mitchell and the rest of the Cavaliers squad, it was in fact the Lakers offense that decided the outcome of the game.

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Lakers head coach Darvin Ham ran a small eight-man lineup against the Cavaliers. And out of those eight players, seven of them scored in double-digits. Even though Anthony Davis led the way for the Lakers on offense; this win was an absolute team effort.

AD had an excellent game for Los Angeles. He finished the night with 32 points, 13 rebounds, 3 blocks, 3 assists, and 2 steals. Davis was a huge help to his teammates whenever they needed assistance on the floor.

His court awareness helped him bail out his teammates on both offense and defense. Along with Davis, LeBron James also helped take on the scoring load with 22 points. But the double-digit scoring from every Laker except one just goes to show that L.A. did not have much problem generating offense.

Star player’s injury crippled the Cavaliers

Breaking down the performance of the Cleveland Cavaliers. No doubt, the team was bound to struggle after Darius Garland was sidelined with an injury. Going into halftime, Garland did not come back to join the team for the second half of the game.

Garland suffered an unintentional blow to the head at the hands of Christian Wood. Initially, the 6 ‘1 All-Star waived it off then. But he did not come back on the court due to a neck strain after halftime.

The 23-year-old Cavs point guard has been a crucial part of the team’s offense on a nightly basis. Darius Garland has been averaging 19.0 PPG, 2.7 RPG, and 5.5 APG, all on a 57.9 true shooting percentage. 

In fact, Garland single-handedly willed his team to victory with a 32-point performance in the game against the 76ers a few nights ago. So, for the team to lose him after the first half clearly created a hurdle.

However, despite Garland’s absence on the floor, the Cavaliers were able to keep the game awfully close; losing the game by only a six-point margin.

A head-scratching shooting performance from The King

Let’s come back to the Los Angeles Lakers to cap it off; specifically LeBron James. Even though nearly the entire Lakers squad had a great offensive outing, LeBron James’ 22 points still stood out from the rest.

However, if given a look at his shooting numbers, one could only wonder; what was The King trying to accomplish? Not only did James shoot 8-23 from the field but he was 1-9 from beyond the arc.

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Had this been a game where other players did not have the luxury of scoring double-digits, would LBJ have kept the same approach? Splitting the defense and finishing at the rim is James’ calling card.

Yet he insisted on chugging up shots from beyond the arc. If you think about it, the Lakers got lucky in this department otherwise the outcome of the game could’ve been totally different.

But still, this was our takeaway from tonight’s game. Let us know your thoughts and takes in the comments section below.