Donovan Mitchell of the Cleveland Cavaliers beat Troy Brown Jr. of the Los Angeles Lakers during the first quarter at Crypto.com Arena on November 6, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. (Getty image via AFP)
LOS ANGELES – Donovan Mitchell returned from injury to score 33 points and lead Cleveland to a 114-100 NBA victory over the former Cavaliers star LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday.
Darius Garland added 24 points and the Cavs equalized in the second half against a lackluster Lakers side with just two points from star Anthony Davis after the interval.
Jarrett Allen added 16 points for the Cavaliers, who took their eighth straight win and, with a score of 8-1, placed second behind the Milwaukee Bucks 9-0 in the Eastern Conference.
Cleveland’s longest winning streak since a 13-game streak in 2017 – James’ final season with the club.
Meanwhile, the Sputtering Lakers lost with a score of 2-7. They led 12 in the first half and six at halftime, but couldn’t muster a reaction when they were 56-36 down in the second half.
“All of our spirit seemed to have left the building, and that’s one of the parts of re-establishing the winning culture of being able to stay competitive,” said Lakers coach Darvin Ham speak.
“What we saw in the first half was how we wanted to play. We were right there against them, we actually had the lead at halftime.
“And then the second half, again, the shots didn’t go down, a couple of reversals happened and we had our heads down a little bit and they kept going up, back, back. And they are an extremely talented football club with extremely talented players.
“We have to keep fighting and that can’t be changed, keep competing and that can’t be changed. We have to do a better job of staying focused and not falling apart.”
James scored 27 points and Davis had 19 with 12 rebounds. Russell Westbrook scored 19 points and made 10 assists in seven games.
But with their late offensive behavior, the Lakers couldn’t find a way to take down Mitchell and Garland, who had missed six of Cleveland’s previous seven games because of eye and knee injuries.
Mitchell, the three-time All-Star guard who joined the Cavaliers from the Utah Jazz in September, has scored 30 or more points in six of eight games with his new team.
He said Cleveland, trying to return to the knockout stages for the first time since the 2017-18 campaign, was not focused on their former star James.
“I grew up being a Cavs fan so I know LeBron very well, but I don’t think that’s what we put into the game,” Mitchell said.
“You always have to respect greatness,” he said, but noted: “At the end of the day, we’re here to win.”
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