The Los Angeles Lakers faced a stiff challenge in the form of the 7-1 Cleveland Cavaliers on Sunday afternoon.
Early on, it looked like L.A. was ready to meet the challenge. It got out to a sizeable early lead that it maintained throughout the first half, as it did a good job defending the rim.
But once Anthony Davis picked up his fourth foul and exited with just under five minutes left in the third quarter, things turned upside down.
Head coach Darvin Ham went with a small lineup at that point that featured 6-foot-9 Wenyen Gabriel at center. With LeBron James also out for the last 1:59 of the third period and the first 44 seconds of the fourth period, Cleveland was able to build a big lead and pull away for a 114-100 win.
The Lakers scored 64 points in the first half, but they were held to just 16 points in the third quarter and 20 in the fourth quarter. Once again, they couldn’t hit from downtown, as they made just 29.6 percent of their 3-point attempts.
Anthony Davis: C+
Just as he did on Friday versus the Utah Jazz, Davis played well in the first half but disappeared in the second half. He started out being aggressive, getting to the free throw line often, although he made just 5-of-9 from the charity stripe.
He finished with 19 points on 7-of-12 shooting, 12 rebounds, four assists and one blocked shot.
LeBron James: B/B+
James’ jumper wasn’t falling on Sunday, especially in the first two or three quarters, but he did end up going 13-of-23 from the field to score 27 points.
However, even though he seems to have gotten his energy back after dealing with some sort of infection earlier in the week, he didn’t seem to have his usual impact.
He shot only three free throws, missing all of them, and he managed only four assists. The lack of assists wasn’t all his fault, as his teammates had trouble hitting from the outside, and as the game wore on, they also started missing chippies at or near the rim.
Troy Brown Jr.: B
Brown went 5-of-12 overall and a solid 2-of-5 from 3-point range to finish with 12 points, as well as six rebounds. The Lakers could use better defense from him, but offensively he seems to be…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/lakers-player-grades-l-manhandled-233630270.html?src=rss
Author : Lebron Wire
Publish date : 2022-11-06 23:36:30
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