Recap: Lakers End 2024 With Loss To Cavaliers
12/31/2024 11:15 PM
The Los Angeles Lakers hosted the Cleveland Cavaliers on New Year’s Eve, looking to end 2024 on a high note against the best team in the league.
This game marked the debuts of Dorian Finney-Smith and Shake Milton after being acquired in a trade with the Brooklyn Nets, but the Cavaliers still proved to be too much for the Lakers as the former came away with a 122-110 victory.
As has been the case a lot this season, the Cavaliers got off to a good start, leading 10-4 early with Evan Mobley and Donovan Mitchell having five points each. Just after celebrating his 40th birthday though, LeBron James helped get the Lakers on track with a pair of 3-pointers.
The Lakers were careless with the ball though, allowing the Cavaliers to take advantage with some triples of their own to build a 15-point lead.
Finney-Smith came off the bench and immediately energized his new team with a putback dunk though. Austin Reaves then got going offensively by attacking the paint while Milton drained a corner triple on the first shot of his Lakers debut to help the team close the first quarter strong, cutting the deficit to 34-30 going into the second.
The Lakers continued their run into the second quarter with Dalton Knecht getting going and then James throwing down a dunk to take the lead for the first time.
That was met with another Cavaliers run, however, as Jarrett Allen was dominating inside with L.A. went cold. It was Cleveland that closed the half strong to take a 58-53 lead into the locker room.
The Lakers’ ball movement was on point to start the third quarter as they quickly cut their deficit to just two, forcing a Cavaliers timeout. That timeout seemed to do the trick, at least for Max Strus as he got red-hot from deep to get Cleveland’s lead back to double digits.
After a relatively quiet start to the game, Davis began dominating from there with seven quick points to lead a 10-0 run with Max Christie making a 3. The Laker run was spoiled by another Cavaliers onslaught from deep to end the third quarter, giving them an 87-78 lead.
Cleveland’s hot shooting continued into the fourth quarter with Mitchell getting in on the action. The stretched their lead to 16 although Reaves and the Lakers kept fighting, getting it back to eight with a few minutes to play.
James put a little concern into the Cavaliers with a corner triple. That was as close as the Lakers would get though as Allen made back-to-back layups to put the game out of reach.
Reaves wound up matching his career-high in the loss with 35 points to go along with 10 assists and nine rebounds.
What’s next for the Lakers
The Lakers return to the court on Thursday, hosting the Portland Trail Blazers in their first game of 2025.
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