LeBron James Dominates with 46 to Lead Anthony Davis, Lakers Past Cavaliers

LeBron James winning in Cleveland is nothing new, but this time he did it for the visitors.

James and the Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers 115-108 in Monday's showdown at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. The King led the way with a brilliant performance for the Purple and Gold, who have won three in a row and improved to 14-4 overall and 10-0 on the road. 

An impressive showing from Andre Drummond was not enough to stop the 8-9 Cavaliers from losing their second in a row.

Notable Player Stats

• LeBron James, F, LAL: 46 PTS, 8 REB, 6 AST, 2 STL, 2 BLK
• Anthony Davis, F, LAL: 17 PTS, 10 REB, 4 AST, 3 STL, 3 BLK
• Andre Drummond, C, CLE: 25 PTS, 17 REB
• Cedi Osman, F, CLE: 20 PTS, 3 STL, 5-of-8 3PT
• Collin Sexton, G, CLE: 17 PTS, 6 AST, 4 REB

Remember Me, Cleveland?

A regular-season showing for the other team isn't going to go down as one of LeBron's all-time performances in Cleveland, but he was his vintage self Monday and wasted no time setting the tone in his old home.

He poured in 17 points in the opening quarter alone and caught fire from deep with four three-pointers and a long fadeaway jumper. Defenses have no chance to stop him if he is going to hit looks like that, and he started facilitating with a one-handed bounce pass to Montrezl Harrell, among other impressive dishes, when the Cavaliers started sending help for Isaac Okoro.

While there was no doubting the King's brilliance, he didn't have enough help for the Lakers to put the game away following their quick start.

Davis and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope both struggled with their shot, Marc Gasol had no chance against Drummond, and the rest of the Lakers were an ugly 2-of-17 from three-point range through the first three quarters.

The result was a deficit heading into the fourth quarter, and even though Harrell provided a spark off the bench, it seemed to be LeBron-or-bust for the Lakers.

That was enough. He took over in crunch time with a deep three, a driving layup, a step-back three, an assist on a Davis dunk, another three and a key mid-range jumper in the final five minutes.

It was truly a performance fit for a King in his old stomping ground.

Cavaliers Put Up Impressive Fight in Defeat

Nobody is mistaking the Cavaliers for championship contenders after they won 19 games in each of the last two seasons, but they have already taken notable strides and turned heads with back-to-back victories over the Brooklyn Nets on Wednesday and Friday.

Monday was another opportunity to impress against one of the league's best teams, and it would have been easy to fold and start looking ahead to the next game after falling behind by double digits in the first quarter.

Instead, Drummond overpowered the Lakers frontcourt and tallied a double-double in the first half, Collin Sexton hit multiple shots from deep—including one over the outstretched arms of Davis—and Cedi Osman's runner at the buzzer cut the deficit to seven by halftime.

Drummond's performance stood out the most as he outperformed Davis in the early going and kept his team within striking distance by controlling the paint. That type of post play opened up the floor for others, and Osman took advantage with red-hot outside shooting. Sexton also had more driving lanes, and Cleveland battled all the way back to take the lead heading into the fourth quarter after looking completely outmatched out of the gates.

Ultimately, one side had LeBron, and one side didn't.

It's a familiar narrative for Cavaliers fans, although it was surely less enjoyable for them when he was on the other side. Still, Cleveland didn't back down at any point and looks poised to at least compete for a low playoff seed in the Eastern Conference.

What's Next? 

Both teams are in action Wednesday when the Cavaliers host the Detroit Pistons and the Lakers travel to face the Philadelphia 76ers.