It was the worst outing of the new season for the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday night. They dropped their second straight game — now an 0-2 road record — against the Cleveland Cavaliers in a 134-110 blowout. The Cavaliers had control right from the jump, winning the first quarter 42-23, and while LeBron James still had a strong individual game, it had no bearing on the final result.
James finished with 26 points on 9-for-13 from the field to go along with six rebounds and three assists. But he was a minus-17 on the night, the third-worst total for the game. It’s the first real sign of vulnerability for L.A. after a strong 3-1 start that saw them collect wins against the Minnesota Timberwolves, Phoenix Suns and Sacramento Kings.
The Lakers star admitted that Wednesday night was a bad look for the team. He spoke about what went wrong and what the Lakers can do from here, according to Dan Woike of The L.A. Times:
“I just don’t think we matched their intensity with energy and effort,” James said. “It’s never good to take a step backwards, but we did that. And now we got to figure out how we can, take two steps forward next time.”
The Cavaliers have looked like one of the best teams in the league to start the season. In fact, they are the lone remaining undefeated team in the Eastern Conference and are the only team in the NBA with five wins as of Thursday morning.
The Lakers, luckily, have some winnable games coming up to help them get back on track. They face the Toronto Raptors, Detroit Pistons and Memphis Grizzlies to close out their road trip. The three teams are a combined 4-11 to start the year, and while the Grizzlies are expected to be good, their 2-3 start hasn’t shown it yet.
James knows the Lakers cannot get caught up in suffering back-to-back losses, as they have fallen victim to that in year’s past.
LeBron James appreciates love from Cleveland
The Lakers dropped their second consecutive game on Wednesday night, being absolutely blitzed by the Cavaliers. The poor performance overshadowed the latest homecoming for LeBron James and the first time playing in Cleveland for his son Bronny James.
LeBron, of course, was born in nearby Akron, Ohio and brought the Cavaliers their lone NBA Championship back in 2016. But his imprint extends well beyond the basketball court with all of his work in the community as well and the city continues to show him love any time he returns.
That was certainly the case on Wednesday, and LeBron admitted to being humbled by the mutual love and respect that continues to exist between himself and the city of Cleveland.
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