Russell Westbrook showed flashes of his best and worst on Monday as the Los Angeles Lakers slumped to a 2-7 record after a 114-100 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers at home.
Westbrook made an immediate impact off the bench for the Lakers and finished the game with 19 points and 10 assists, although he also had seven turnovers in an all-around mixed display.
As for Cleveland, it was the Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland show, with the pair combining for 57 points after a particularly strong first half kept the Cavs in the game.
The Lakers actually led 64-58 at halftime but a lack of respect for the ball in the third quickly saw them fall behind and they could not recover.
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Monday November 7th
Anthony Davis also had a hot start but faltered in the second half, managing only two points to finish on 19 along with 12 boards and four assists.
LeBron James led the scoring for the Lakers with 27 points, seven rebounds and four assists.
It was a particularly disappointing result given how promising things looked early for LA
The Lakers made a fast start on Monday, jumping out to a 21-9 lead after six minutes after playing some of the basketball they have put up all season.
As expected, it was LA’s big three doing all the damage, with James (six points), Davis (seven points) and Westbrook (four points) all contributing.
Westbrook, who has been much-improved for the Lakers when coming off the bench, continued that trend early in Monday’s game.
He had 12 points and four assists off the bench as the Lakers took a 36-30 lead after the first quarter, with Davis putting up nine points, four boards and two assists by that point.
As for Cleveland, they were finding plenty of scoring opportunities at the free-throw line, with Mitchell scoring seven points alone at the charity stripe in the first quarter.
That continued into the second, with the Lakers leading 64-58 by halftime but still gifting the Cavaliers 23 free-throw attempts, with Mitchell and Garland combining for 15.
LA’s big three also maintained the intensity in the second quarter, with James, Davis and Westbrook all in double figures for points by halftime.
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The Lakers’ defense, meanwhile, was doing more than enough to make up for any lack of production elsewhere, holding the Cavaliers to under 40 percent shooting from the field.
Fouls though remained an issue, as did Garland and Mitchell, who combined to score 42 of Cleveland’s 58 points in the first half.
The Cavaliers needed a quick start in the third quarter and found it, going on a 13-2 run as the Lakers went scoreless in the opening four minutes.
Cleveland would go on to outscore LA 29-16 in the third, taking an 87-80 lead into the final quarter.
While Westbrook led the Lakers with 10 assists by that point, he also had a team-high seven turnovers and the Cavaliers were really starting to make him pay for them.
Cleveland had scored 21 points off LA’s 15 turnovers in the first three quarters and another poor pass from Westbrook was then stolen by Dean Wade and turned into a Cavs 3-pointer.
That prompted the Lakers to call a timeout, now trailing 92-80 but there was seemingly little they could do to stop the Cavaliers, who jumped out to a 98-85 lead with nine minutes left.
Cleveland just did not let up from there, seeing the Lakers pull all their primary players from the court in the latter stages of the game.
Funnily enough, LA then got within nine points with two minutes left to threaten to make a game of it but in the end the Cavaliers took the win.
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