Los Angeles Lakers: 3 takeaways from the Cleveland Cavaliers game

In a game surrounded by intrigue on and off the court, here are three takeaways from the Los Angeles Lakers’ victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers.

With postseason basketball almost out of reach, the Los Angeles Lakers are hoping to continue their strong play in the second half of the season and finish the season as close to a .500 winning percentage as possible. After drubbing the Cleveland Cavaliers on Mar. 11, they took another step closer to that goal.

In a game that I spoke about last month as one to watch after the All-Star break, the Lakers turned a competitive first half into a second half blowout, beating the Cavs 127-113. The Lakers led by five points heading into halftime, before a dominant third quarter where they outscored the Cavs 33-22 broke the game open.

The Lakers finished with five players in double figures, and used great ball movement to finish with 30 assists on the evening. They were led by their Julius Randle and Brook Lopez, who dominated former teammate Larry Nance Jr. by combining for 57 points, 22 rebounds and 11 assists.

LeBron James, whose looming free agency is the beacon of all the intrigue, seemed outmatched by the Lakers given the unhealthy status of his current team. James finished with a near triple-double (24 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists), but 16 of those points came in the first half, when the game was close.

From the Lakers making a strong free agency case directly to LeBron to a personal revenge game for one Laker, these are my three takeaways from the Lakers-Cavs matchup that involved plenty of talking points leading into the game.