Los Angeles Lakers vs. Cleveland Cavaliers: Postgame Grades and Analysis
Kevin Love scored a season-high 32 points, Kyrie Irving had 28 points and 10 assists and the Cleveland Cavaliers routed the Los Angeles Lakers, 120-105, at Quicken Loans Arena Sunday afternoon.
This game was close until Love unleashed a barrage of three-pointers in the second quarter, draining four triples to help give the Cavaliers a 64-49 lead heading into halftime.
Cleveland, which shot 55 percent from the floor and went 18-of-33 from beyond the arc, led by as much as 26.
Head coach David Blatt was happy his team was able to recover after a loss to the Indiana Pacers two nights prior, per the Cavaliers official Twitter feed:
The Cavs also had 31 assists, its best total in quite some time, per play-by-play announcer Fred McLeod:
Jordan Clarkson led the Lakers with 20 points.
Los Angeles head coach Byron Scott was not happy with his team's inability to find shooters defensively, per Mike Trudell of TWC Sportsnet:
Scott also questioned his team's toughness, per Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times:
L.A. has now lost four straight games.
| Nick Young | D- |
| Wesley Johnson | C- |
| Carlos Boozer | C- |
| Jordan Clarkson | A- |
| Ed Davis | A- |
| Rest of Team | B |
| LeBron James | A |
| Kyrie Irving | A+ |
| Kevin Love | A+ |
| J.R. Smith | D |
| Timofey Mozgov | B |
| Rest of Team | B+ |
Los Angeles Lakers
Nick Young: D-
Nick Young's new "I Don't Miss" moniker certainly was not on display against Cleveland.
The flamboyant 2-guard went only 3-of-10 from the floor, going 2-of-7 from three-point range. He scored only eight points and failed to get to the free-throw line.
Young also made some lazy efforts defensively, particularly in transition. Ryan Ward of LakersNation was disappointed in Young's effort level:
Scott said Swaggy P was under the weather, per Trudell:
Like so many of Young's performances, his shot selection also left much to be desired.
Wesley Johnson: C-
Wesley Johnson was not very efficient on the afternoon.
He scored 15 points but did it off a 5-of-14 clip. He did go 2-of-4 from long distance, but he was just not able to convert well from inside the arc.
Johnson's energy was solid, but it did not translate into good production.
Carlos Boozer: C-
There wasn't much doing for Carlos Boozer in this one.
The big man recorded nine points and six rebounds off the bench, shooting an inefficient 4-of-10 from the field. He also had two of his shots blocked underneath the basket.
There were also instances where Boozer had teammates open on the perimeter but instead decided to force up a difficult shot in traffic.
Jordan Clarkson: A-
Jordan Clarkson was the best Laker on the floor in the loss.
The rookie actually gave Cleveland's defense some issues, particularly early in the game when he was able to get into the lane at will and finish at the rim.
Clarkson looked confident running the offense and ended up tallying 20 points, six rebounds and four assists in 27 minutes. Perhaps most importantly, he did not register a single turnover.
Impressive.
Ed Davis: A-
Ed Davis was the second-best Laker on Sunday.
He put in 16 points off an efficient 6-of-7 clip and grabbed nine rebounds, three of those coming on the offensive end.
Davis did an excellent job finishing in traffic, utilizing both hands around the basket.
Rest of Team: B
I really liked the way Tarik Black played in this one.
The big man showed some versatility by banging down low and also stepping out on defending LeBron James on the perimeter, demonstrating surprisingly solid footspeed.
Black totaled eight points and seven boards and had a nice putback slam over Kevin Love.
Jeremy Lin scored 11 points off 5-of-9 shooting, but most of that came in garbage time. Prior to that, he wasn't very effective at all, committing errors such as being indecisive on whether he wanted to shoot or pass in mid-air.
Wayne Ellington scored 12 points. But he did it on 14 shots, so it wasn't a very efficient night for the sharpshooting guard. He added five rebounds.
Cleveland Cavaliers
LeBron James: A
LeBron James had a superb all-around performance Sunday afternoon.
He got his teammates involved early, getting dribble penetration and either kicking it out to open shooters or finding cutters for easy buckets inside. Then, he started looking for his own offense, scoring 13 of his 22 points in the third quarter.
James ended up shooting 8-of-16 from the floor and posted 10 rebounds and eight assists.
The only thing that keeps him from getting an A+ is his six turnovers, as he did have quite a few sloppy passes.
Kyrie Irving: A+
Kyrie Irving was brilliant.
The flashy floor general scored 28 points off 10-of-14 shooting, demonstrating his trademark finishing ability around the rim and knocking down five three-pointers in the process.
He was an absolute terror in transition, putting the Lakers defense on its heels all game.
Irving also set up his teammates, handing out 10 dimes in 32 minutes. He also committed only one turnover, so this was simply a spectacular afternoon for the All-Star.
Irving was a game-high plus-25.
Kevin Love: A+
To say that Kevin Love was "feeling it" is an understatement.
Love poured in a season-high 32 points thanks mostly in part to his brilliance from beyond the arc, as the big man drained seven of his eight attempts from long range. He hit his last six three-point tries in a row and had an inhuman stretch during the second quarter where he buried four straight triples on four straight possessions.
Brendan Bowers of Slam Online pointed out how rare players of Love's caliber are:
Love's ability to spread the floor completely changed the complexion of the game and helped the Cavaliers break things open.
He added 10 rebounds to go along with his scoring output. He shot 11-of-18 overall.
J.R. Smith: D
J.R. Smith had a quiet game.
He scored only two points off 1-of-4 shooting, and the shots he did take were questionable, taking contested jumpers early in the shot clock.
Smith did have four assists, though, so at least there's that.
Timofey Mozgov: B
There was some Jekyll and Hyde to Timofey Mozgov's performance Sunday afternoon.
While he shot the ball well (4-of-6) and did a great job protecting the rim, blocking four shots, Mozgov had three turnovers, fumbling quite a few passes that likely would have resulted in easy buckets.
His numbers were solid otherwise, as he recorded eight points and 10 boards.
Mozgov also had a nice alley-oop slam.
Rest of Team: B+
Tristan Thompson gave the Cavs some solid production off the bench, putting up 10 points and eight boards. He finished well around the rim too, as was evident in his 4-of-7 shooting clip.
Iman Shumpert gave Cleveland a nice spark as well, posting 12 points and making a great, quick cut to the basket off an Irving inbounds pass to throw down an alley-oop.
Shumpert added four steals.
What's Next?
The Lakers will head home for a matchup with the Denver Nuggets at 10:30 p.m. ET on Tuesday night.
Meanwhile, the Cavaliers will host a very special guest at 8 p.m. ET on Wednesday: LeBron's old friends, the Miami Heat.
Cleveland will be looking to avenge a Christmas Day defeat at the hands of Chris Bosh and Company.
