Cavaliers blow out the Lakers 129-99 for fifth straight win
BY TIM SHIRER
CAVS BEAT WRITER
(CLEVELAND, OH) - Entering Wednesday night’s matchup against LeBron James, Luka Doncic, and the Los Angeles Lakers (28-18, 16-10 road) the Cleveland Cavaliers (29-20, 17-11 home) had won four straight games. It was the final game at Rocket Arena before the Cavs embark on their longest road trip of the season.
Whether you like it or not there is always something special in the air when LeBron James comes back and plays at Rocket Arena. The night did not turn out to be special for LeBron as the Cavs ran over his Lakers 129-99.
The Cavs were without Evan Mobley who strained his left calf Monday night in the Cavs victory over the Magic. The Cavs jumped out to a 7-0 lead with 2:20 gone in the first quarter. With 8:44 left on the first quarter clock the Lakers cut the lead to 7-6 when James dunked and the slit crowd at Rocket Arena erupted. He then gave them an 8-7 lead when scored in the paint on a fast break with 8:17 left on the clock. During the first timeout the Cavaliers paid tribute to LeBron James and the greatest player in NBA history was visible moved by the tribute as he returned to the floor. With 5:49 left on the clock Craig Porter, Jr. gave the lead back to the Cavs 13-12 when Jaylon Tyson fed the ball and he drained a three. With 4:41 left the Lakers tied the game 15-15 when Gabe Vincent hit a three. The Lakers then took the lead when Porter fouled Jake LaRavia with 4:06 left on the clock and he hit both free throws. The Cavs had a chance to tie the game with 1:58 left in the quarter when Donovan Mitchell missed an easy layup. After one quarter the Lakers were on top 28-24. Allen, Vincent, and LaRavia led everyone in scoring in the first quarter with six points apiece.
With 9:29 left in the second quarter the Lakers lead had grown to 35-26. Cavs coach Kenny Atkinson had seen enough and called a timeout. With 7:26 left Tyrese Proctor picked up his second personal foul and sent Doncic to the line. He missed them both and the Lakers led 40-30. With 6:59 left, Cleveland cut the L.A. lead to 40-34 and then just 17 seconds later after a Lakers turnover, Jaylon Tyson cut the lead to four points with a layup. Lakers coach JJ Redick called a timeout to thwart the Cavs moment. With 5:38 remaining Tyson pulled the Cavs to within one point 42-41 with a three pointer. Once again with the Cavs down three points Porter pulled them to within one with 3:50 left in the opening half. With 3:02 left and the Cavs trailing by two points Dean Wade had a chance to tie the game but missed a dunk. He was fouled and hit one of two foul shots to once again pull the Cavs to within one point at 48-47. With 2:36 left the Lakers tossed the ball out of bounds, but Wade bailed them out by committing a foul. The Lakers now led 49-47. The Cavs finally took a 50-49 lead with 2:16 left when Tyson drained a three. With 2:00 left Mitchell fouled LeBron and Atkinson challenged it and lost. LeBron hit both free throws, giving the Lakers a one point lead 51-50. Mitchell then gave the lead back to the Cavs when he hit a jumper. He then extended the Cleveland lead to 54-51 with 1:19 remaining. Another play was challenged when LeBron committed an offensive foul. Reddick lost the challenge and the Cavs retained possession. When the buzzer sounded ending the second quarter the Cavs held a 57-55 lead. Doncic led all scorers at the break with 15 points. Mitchell led the Cavs with 13 points. The Lakers were outshooting Cleveland from the field 51% (22 of 43) to 43% (23 of 53). The three-point shooting was not good from either team as the Lakers barely out shot the Cavs 29% (4 of 14) to 27% (6 of 23). The Cavs did outrebound the Lakers 26-21.
2:22 into the third quarter drained a three and gave the Cavs a 67-59 lead. With 8:10 left in the quarter Tyson drove the lane scored and was fouled giving the Cavs a 73-63 lead. The Cavs then took a 76-65 lead with 7:34 left when Wade drained a three. Redick immediately took a timeout. After the timeout, the Cavs lead grew to 80-65 with two consecutive layups by Tyson. The Lakers then turned the ball over again when James was charged with an offensive foul. With 5:31 left the Cavs led 82-65 with Allen scoring in the paint. The Lakers cut the lead to 82-70 with 4:29 left when James scored after a Cavs turnover. With 3:07 left in the quarter Nae’Qwan Tomlin dunked and the Cavs lead was 16 points. The Cavs lead ballooned to 19 points with 1:37 left when De’Andre Hunter scored on a three pointer. After stealing the ball from Doncic Tomlin slammed it home and gave the Cavs a 96-75 lead. When the third quarter ended the Cavs led 99-77. Doncic led all scorers with 29 points. Tyson led the Cavs with 20 through three quarters. The Cavs shot 68% (17 of 25) in the third quarter while the Lakers shot 45% (9 of 20) and turned the ball over six times resulting in 11 Cavs points.
With 9:15 left in the fourth quarter the Cavs were up 27 points and the sellout crowd started chanting “We want Bronny, we want Bronny.” Referring to Lakers second year forward and Cleveland native Bronny James the son of Lebron James. With 8:23 remaining the fans got their wish, and Bronny James entered the game and the crowd erupted. The only thing left was for Bronny to score and that happened with 3:32 left on the clock when he stole the ball and scored at the other end on a dunk sending the Cleveland crowd into a frenzy celebrating the hometown kid. Then less than a minute later he drained a three and the crowd erupted again. When the final buzzer sounded the Cavs had their fifth win in a row sending the 19,432 in attendance home happy.
Doncic led all scorers with 29 points in the blowout loss. Mitchell led the Cavs with 25 points. Tyson finished with 20 and Hunter had 19. Allen had 17 points and nine rebounds patrolling the paint for the Cavs. Lebron finished with 11 points and Bronny finished with eight points including two threes.
The Cavs shot 53% (51 of 97) from the field while the Lakers shot 48% (39 of 81). Cleveland also out shot the Lakers from long range 39% (17 of 44) to 28% (9 of 32). The Cavs outrebounded the Lakers 46-36. Turnovers were a huge factor as the Lakers turned the ball over 16 times, 10 in the second half resulting in 17 points and a total of 21 in the game.
The Cavs now head out on an eleven day, five game road trip. First stop will be in Phoenix, Arizona to take on the Phoenix Suns (28-19, 15-6 home) Friday at 9 pm at Mortgage Matchup Center. The Cavs beat the Suns on New Years Eve at Rocket Arena 129-113. The second stop on the trip is Portland, Oregon to play the Trail Blazers (23-25, 13-11 home) at 9 pm on Sunday. The Cavs lost to the Blazers 122-110 on December 3rd at Rocket Arena. The trip will continue Wednesday (February 4) when they head to the city of Angels to play the
LA Clippers (22-24, 13-9 home) at the Intuit Center at 10:30 pm. The Cavs defeated the Clippers on November 23 120-105 in Cleveland. Game four of the trip will take place in Sacramento when the Cavs take on the Sacramento Kings (12-36, 9-16 home) at the Golden 1 Center at 10 pm on Saturday (Feb 7). The Cavs defeated the Kings last Friday 123-118 in Cleveland. Finally, the road trip will conclude in Denver on Monday February 9th at Ball Arena at 9 pm. It will be the second meeting between the two teams this season. The Cavs won the first meeting on January 2 in Cleveland 113-108.
POSTED 01/28/2026 22:04
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Akron native LeBron James shoots a free throw in the Cavs 129-99 win over the Los Angeles Lakers at Rocket Arena on Wednesday night. Photo by Tommy Shirer
