Los Angeles Lakers ride LeBron and D.J. Augustin’s zones to beat Cavs

The Los Angeles Lakers looked to rebound from a very disappointing loss against the Washington Wizards with a must-win game against LeBron James’ old team (Twice!), the Cleveland Cavaliers. Why was it a must-win? With the Wizards’ loss over the weekend coupled with a New Orleans Pelicans blowout win over the San Antonio Spurs, the Lake Show found themselves in the final spot for the NBA Play-in tournament as the 10th seed.

This was definitely a game of runs as the Lakers started the game up 6-0, but Cleveland had a  huge run to race off to a 23-11 lead. But by halftime, the Lake Show again reminded everyone why this team was so hyped for a title run before the sky started falling.

In a very entertaining game, the Lakers put it together from all angles to beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 131-120. It would have been nice to go into the Philly game on Wednesday with a three-game winning streak but, the team is trending upward in the quality of play.

The good from the Los Angeles Lakers’ win:

Man! That D.J. Augustin left planet Earth with the zone he had shooting the basketball!

Lakers fans, the Los Angeles Lakers were well on their way to another blowout loss before Frank Vogel made an offensive adjustment (Breaking News to Lake Show Life!) and put D.J. Augustin in the game. Augustin put on one of the better shooting performances not named LeBron James, Malik Monk, or Carmelo Anthony this season.

Augustin held down the fort early knocking down 3 point shots from all over the court. He knocked down five shots from the land of the extra point on his way to 17 points in the first half. He didn’t miss any of the six shots that he took. His shooting prowess allowed some guy from Akron to catch his rhythm in the second quarter.

D.J. shot 7-7 from the field and hit all six shots from behind the arc for 20 points. If it wasn’t for him providing the offensive spark in the opening minutes, this is a totally different conversation.

Somebody must have said something slick to LeBron James in the second quarter. 

The one thing people just can’t do is try to get under LeBron’s skin in Cleveland. Remember last year when that executive started clapping when LeBron missed that jumper at the end of the third quarter? Then LeBron got mad and outscored the entire team in the final quarter and the Lakers blew the game open afterward? Well…

LeBron James took over for D.J. and destroyed the Cavaliers in the second quarter. He had 17 of his 21 points in the second quarter playing with energy and passion.

Then there was some slow singing and flower bringing for Kevin Love under the rim when LeBron’s shoes started kicking!

LeBron James collected his 105th triple-double just working over the Cavaliers for 38 points (17-29 shooting!), 11 rebounds and 12 assists. His display in the final quarter devastated Cleveland and had their crowd buzzing. This was the most complete performance for LeBron James since the All-Star break and that includes the 50 point games. He influenced the entire game on both ends and both rosters.

The bench was much better in this game supporting the starters.

The Lakers bench scored 49 points to make sure that there was no comeback from the young Cavaliers. Stanley Johnson and Malik Monk (More on him later!), scored 12 points each to go along with Augustin’s 20 to keep things rolling in crunch time.

Not only did they score the basketball, they played outstanding defense in spurts to allow the fast break to commence. Hence…

Caris LeVert did not have an out-of-body experience in the final quarter this time!