Lakers snap a four-game losing streak with bounce-back victory over the Cavs.
After coming into tonight’s ball game on a 4 game losing streak since the ankle injury of LeBron James, the Lakers snapped that streak with a huge bounce-back victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers, winning 100–86. With tonight’s much-needed victory, the Lakers record moves to 29–17 and keeps them afloat in the Western Conference standings still remaining in 4th place. The Lakers came out with a huge sense of urgency in the 2nd half of tonight’s game outscoring the Cavs 28–10 in the 3rd quarter putting the game away in the 4th quarter allowing a season-low opponent score of 86 points. Lakers head coach Frank Vogel spoke on the Lakers 2nd half defensive performance saying:
“We struggled a couple of 3rd quarters in the last couple of games and our mindset was to make this one ours. Our guys came out and played really great defense, held them to 10 points in the (3rd) quarter which is hard to do in this league. It was the big factor in the win.”
Despite tying a season-high 23 turnovers in tonight’s win, the Lakers were still able to overcome that miscue by getting a season-high 15 steals on the Cavs. Both teams on the night shot completely cold from the three-point arc, combining for 11 for 52 (21%) from three. The Lakers shot 6 for 26 from the perimeter, bottom five worst percentage of the season. Former Lakers’ 27th overall draft pick Larry Nance had a solid performance wreaking havoc on the glass against his former team. In 27 minutes Nance finished with a double-double of 17 points and 10 rebounds. Nance had 6 offensive rebounds of his 10 total boards and added 5 assists in his box score.
Tonight’s best performance came from the Lakers starting point guard Dennis Schröder. There has been a lot of talk as of late about the possibility of Schröder resigning with the Lakers, he wants to stay a Laker but understands the business and could look to test the open market this off-season. Tonight Schröder showed his value to the Lakers showcasing a much-needed performance of 17 points, 7 assists, 5 rebounds, 4 steals, and a huge chase-down block that gave the Lakers a huge 4th quarter momentum. Schröder shot over 50% from the field goal, going 7 for 12 (58%) overall and 1 for 2 (50%) from three.
The Lakers’ second biggest performer on the night was the always energetic Montrezl Harrell. Harrell finished with a game-high 24 points and 10 rebounds in 29 solid minutes for the Lakers. Tonight’s double-double performance is the 8th time this season, Harrell has achieved that feat, and the 12th time he has scored 20 or more points in a game. Montrezl Harrell spoke of playing with this group until LeBron James and Anthony Davis come back from injury:
“We’re not just looking to hold on or just try to keep our heads above water without those guys. We’re trying to compete and win games, it just feels good to get back in the winning column tonight.”
The Lakers Markieff Morris hasn’t gotten the praise he deserved over the last couple of games, giving the Lakers performances of 16 points and 13 points in two of the previous three games. Tonight he had a solid performance for this squad, finishing with 13 points, 5 rebounds, and 2 assists in 27 minutes in a starting role for this team.
The Lakers had a bounce-back game from their bench after having one of their worst performances of the season in yesterday’s loss with only 27 points. The Lakers bench scored 55 points that helped seal the win.
After coming off a 6 point performance in yesterday’s loss to the Philadelphia 76ers, 20-year-old Talen Horton-Tucker had a bounce-back performance for this Lakers squad tonight. In 32 minutes, Horton-Tucker finished with 15 points, 3 rebounds, and assists, and 2 steals on 6 for 11 (54%) shooting from the field.
The Lakers will face off this Sunday against an Orlando Magic team who just traded multiple starters before yesterday’s trade deadline. The Lakers look to build off of tonight’s momentum into Sunday’s matchup to stay afloat in the highly competitive Western Conference.