LOS ANGELES—Wins have been hard to come by for the Cleveland Cavaliers this season, so Coach Larry Drew has been focused on the incremental signs of progress.
Against the Los Angeles Lakers, Drew saw those little things help put the Cavaliers into the right side of the win column.
Cedi Osman scored 20 points, Collin Sexton added 17 and the Cavaliers ended a 12-game losing streak with a 101-95 victory on Sunday night.
“Any time you go through a rebuilt process you’re going to have bumps in the road, that’s to be expected,” Drew said. “But the most important thing for this group is that they learn and there is growth. We understand where we are and who we are, and the most important thing for us right now is just to continue to grow every game we play.”
Tristan Thompson had 15 points and 14 rebounds, and Alec Burks had 17 points and 13 rebounds as the shorthanded Cavaliers split the two-game season series by forcing the Lakers into a choppy game.
Los Angeles was seven for 34 on three-pointers, 16 for 27 from the free throw line and had 11 fast-break points.
Kyle Kuzma had 29 points and nine rebounds for the Lakers, who have lost two straight and five of their past seven. Brandon Ingram scored 22 points and Lonzo Ball had 13 points, eight rebounds and eight assists.
“No disrespect to the Cavs, but they’re still an[National Basketball Association] NBA team and for us we can’t take anything lightly, especially in this league,” Kuzma said. “Because we’re all professionals and you can lose on any given night if we don’t bring the effort, and that’s what happened tonight.”
Burks delivered an emphatic dunk after Ingram couldn’t handle a defensive rebound to help the Cavaliers reestablish control after Kuzma scored five straight to cut the Cavaliers’ lead to 84-79 midway though the four quarter.
Sexton drove for a layup and Osman hit a floater during a quick 6-0 run, which allowed the Cavaliers to hold off another late push by the Lakers. Kuzma hit a three-pointer with 22 seconds remaining to trim the margin to 96-93, but Burks made both free throws with 16 to play.
“When they did score, we continued to play,” said Cavaliers forward Rodney Hood, who had 18 points. “We didn’t look around and we didn’t cave in.”
The Cavaliers had a 10-0 run in the third quarter after Kuzma hit a floater to pull the Lakers within 51-50 early in the period. Burks and Osman hit three-pointers to bookend the push, and Cleveland was able to sustain a 10-point margin going into the fourth by holding Los Angeles to 8-for-26 shooting.
“When we’re playing like that and playing together it’s fun,” Sexton said. “I felt like tonight we had fun and it’s been a long time since we had fun.”
A day after the Dallas Mavericks got the bad news that backup point guard and team sparkplug JJ Barea was lost for the season, Stephen Curry brought more bad news—in the form of 11 three-pointers.
Curry scored 48 points and tied his season high for threes in a game as the Golden State Warriors held off the Mavericks, 119-114, also on Sunday night in Dallas.
“We just couldn’t get Curry under control,” Mavericks Coach Rick Carlisle said. “He was brilliant tonight.”
Curry’s 11 threes were the most ever by a Mavericks opponent. The last one was his most important, snapping a 114-all tie with 42 seconds to play. Both Curry and Warriors Coach Steve Kerr credited Kevin Durant for switching play calls to get Curry shots rather than taking shots of his own.
Durant added 28 points for the Warriors, and Klay Thompson had nine of his 16 in the fourth quarter as the Warriors received a tough test from a Dallas team playing without its top two point guards, Dennis Smith Jr. and Barea.
Luka Doncic scored 26 points for Dallas and Harrison Barnes had 22. Jalen Brunson had 12 off the bench in 30 minutes, in place of the injured point guards.
Image credits: AP