Lakers outshot by NBA-leading Cavaliers despite Austin Reaves’ big night – Daily News

Lakers outshot by NBA-leading Cavaliers despite Austin Reaves’ big night – Daily News

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Cleveland Cavaliers forward Evan Mobley, right, and Lakers star LeBron James, front left, vie for the ball during the first half on Tuesday night at Crypto.com Arena. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)

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LOS ANGELES — Lakers coach JJ Redick used the word “multiple” to describe what it would take for his team to compete against the league-leading Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday night.

Multiple efforts defensively. Multiple actions offensively.

But in the spirit of Redick’s pregame comments, the Lakers fell victim to another math problem, with the Cavaliers’ 3-point shooting being too much to overcome, leading to a 122-110 defeat at Crypto.com Arena.

“They have some really good shot-makers on their team,” Redick said. “Overall our defense, in terms of execution, physicality, intensity, was good. If you’re gonna have that level of disparity from the 3-point line, the only way to really counteract that is to get a really high amount of free-throw attempts and them have no free-throw attempts. And we didn’t get that.

“We generated good looks. And they didn’t go down.”

The Cavaliers, playing for the second night in a row, knocked down twice as many 3-pointers (18) as the Lakers (nine) and shot 11 for 24 from behind the arc in the second half to pull away after the Lakers trimmed their deficit to 79-78 late in the third quarter.

And every time the Lakers (18-14) got close, Cleveland (29-4) widened its advantage with its perimeter shooting and quick offense.

“They’re a good ball club,” said Lakers big man Anthony Davis, who had 28 points, 13 rebounds, four assists, three steals and two blocked shots. “They’re No. 1 in the league for a reason. Anytime we made a push, they made a run on their own to create more separation. And we got good looks that we missed and they got looks that they made. That was a difference in the game.”

Donovan Mitchell (26 points, 6-of-13 from 3-point range, four assists) made a pair of 3-pointers early in the fourth to give Cleveland a 93-80 lead, followed by a Georges Niang 3-pointer that gave the Cavaliers a game-best 16-point advantage.

Austin Reaves tied a career-high with 35 points to go with 10 assists and nine rebounds for a near triple-double, and LeBron James had 23 points, seven assists and four rebounds in his first game since turning 40 on Monday, but the Lakers shot 25.7% from behind the arc (9 for 35) to the Cavaliers’ 39.1% (18 for 46).

Davis, Reaves and James, who combined to score all of the Lakers’ 32 fourth-quarter points, willed the home team back into the game.

A James corner 3-pointer cut the Lakers deficit to 112-107 with just under three minutes left, but the Cavaliers’ late offensive rebounding, particularly from Jarrett Allen (season-high 27 points, 14 rebounds, three blocked shots), helped them close the game on a 10-3 run.

With the Lakers down 114-107 with just over two minutes remaining, Reaves missed an open 3-point attempt that would have made it a two-possession game.

“Austin had a great look out of the after timeout play that really … I’ll live with that all day,” Redick said. “It was wide open, top of the key. He was having a night, so could have cut it to four right there. We certainly had our chances. And really believe this against teams as good as Cleveland: you have to play close to perfect basketball. They’re not gonna let you beat them. They’re not gonna beat themselves.”

Reaves, who had 17 of his points in the fourth quarter, continued his strong run of play.

“Just like I always say, play the game the right way and just do what the game calls for,” Reaves said. “If it’s scoring, score. If it’s not, make plays. But at the (end of the) day, just get us organized, get us in to stuff that we need to get in. Obviously, get Bron and A.D. the ball, because good things happen when that happens. Just trying to be a floor general, a coach out there that they can trust to run things through and it’s not more so just ‘Go make a play.’ It’s just get everybody organized, get us in good offense and defensively talking. All those little things.”

Reaves had a 26-point, 10-rebound, 10-assist triple-double in the Lakers’ Christmas night road win against the Golden State Warriors and a 26-point, 16-assist double-double to go with six rebounds in Saturday’s home win against the Sacramento Kings.

Reaves has also averaged four turnovers per game during this stretch, up from the 2.3 turnovers he averaged in his first 24 games.

“He’s gonna get a lot of opportunities to play on and off ball with actions on it in both ways,” Redick said. “There’s a nature to his game that you have to be willing to live with some of his stuff because of the way he attacks and the change of pace and the quick decisions and the quick bursts like there’s gonna be some of that and you have to live with that. It’s sort of the unforced stuff that will grow.”

Davis sees no issue with Reaves’ increased responsibilities handling the ball.

“What’d he have, 36 tonight? 35? … looked good to me,” Davis said. “He’s a hooper. I mean obviously he has a little bit more on his plate with ball handling responsibilities when Gabe (Vincent) is out and when LeBron is out of the game, but he’s used to it. He’s been in the league long enough now where he knows how to run the point guard position. So it’s going to be more reps. He’s ready for it, and we got the utmost confidence in him to run the point.”

Dorian Finney-Smith and Shake Milton made their Lakers debuts after being acquired in a trade with Brooklyn on Sunday. Milton scored six points in 10 minutes and Finney-Smith had two points in 20 minutes.

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