The Los Angeles Lakers will try to make it three straight wins on their current road trip.
That’s right. They have started 2-0 on this road trip that was meant to be excruciating and break the Lakers. The opposite has happened. They beat the Milwaukee Bucks to the surprise of many and then Anthony Davis ate everything in sight on the way to 55 points and a win over the Washington Wizards. Everything is coming up on these Lakers.
What’s next, though, could derail them. Here comes a dreaded back-to-back session. On the road, no less. And these aren’t easy teams to deal with. Let’s start with Tuesday’s contest.
The Lakers visit Cleveland on Tuesday night. They already lost to the Cavaliers on Nov. 6th. But this Laker team feels decidedly different from a month ago so this could be one hell of a rematch.
The difference-maker in that first match-up was Cleveland taking control of the second half. During those first 12 games by the Lakers (you know, when they started 2-10), the recurring theme was Anthony Davis would disappear in the second half. The game against the Cavaliers was no different as Davis would only score two of his 19 points in that second half.
That pesky backcourt of Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland made life extremely difficult for the Lakers, too. They combined for 57 points in that first game. The Cavs were also aggressive and it showed in the free throw discrepancy, 32 made foul shots to 12 by Los Angeles.
I feel like if the Lakers played like they have in the past two games (or, really, the pat 10 games), they should be okay. If someone tells me that Anthony Davis has been the best player in the league in the last three weeks or so, I’d just silently nod my head and agree. In that 8-2 Lakers stretch, Davis has played 9 games and has averaged 35.3 points, 15.6 rebounds, 2.9 blocks, and 1.2 steals per. Also, he’s shooting .648 from the field, .455 from three (1.2 attempts but at least, he knows where he dominates nowadays), and .880 from the line. If we include that loss against Sacramento before the 10-game span, he’s had 10 straight games of 24 points and 10 rebounds.
Davis did have to contend with twin towers Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen in the first game. But Allen has been out the last 5 games due to a lower back contusion; as of this writing, Allen had been upgraded to questionable. Even still, Mobley is an awesome interior presence by himself so this match-up will be intriguing. Allen being around would make it that much harder for Davis. But I wonder if it’ll matter the way Anthony Davis has been dominating everyone as of late.
It feels like LeBron James is back to his usual self but as of late, he’s been deferring to Davis early and often before getting his. If anything, the entire team has been looking to Davis. We’ll see if the Cavs can contain Davis, who has been destroying everybody no matter how he gets the ball. It could be from the top. It could be from the post. It could be from the pick-and-roll. The Cavs are the second best defensive team in the league but Anthony Davis also punched the Bucks in the face (not literally; that would be heinous) and Milwaukee is currently the best defensive team in the NBA. This is going to be great to watch.
And of course, we’ll see if the role players can steal the show. Ex-UCLA teammates Russell Westbrook and Kevin Love each had double-doubles for their respective teams. Caris LeVert had 12 points for the Cavs but we know what he’s capable of. Lonnie Walker IV had an unusually quiet (for this season, at least) 6 points for L.A.
A victory for the Lakers would put them one game under .500. As for the Cavs, they are 7-3 in their last 10 games but are also coming off a loss against the Knicks. We’ll see if the Lakers can make it three in a row away from Los Angeles and four straight overall.
