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The 13-4 Lakers bring the NBA’s best record to town after an off-day. The Cavs are playing the second game of a back-to-back and their third game in four days. It’s not looking good for the Cavs to say the least.
The Lakers beat Milwaukee 113-106 last week. Their most recent loss was a week ago to Golden State 115-113, so they can be beaten from time to time. LeBron and AD played 37-38 minutes but the Warriors pulled it out.
However, I’m pretty sure LeBron is going to make it clear to his teammates that he doesn’t want to lose in Cleveland like the Nets did a few days ago.
On the injury report both LeBron and Anthony Davis are listed as “day-to-day” but they both played two nights ago in Chicago so I don’t know what’s up with that. Maybe the Lakers are thinking about resting one of them. The Lakers are off tomorrow but they do play four games in the next six days.
The Lakers have six players averaging double figures so they spread the ball around. They’re 8th in scoring at 114.3 ppg and 2nd in scoring defense. Points will be hard to come by.
The Lakers don’t take a lot of 3’s, ranking 23rd in 3-rate, but they make them at a rate of 39.3%, which is 5th best. Overall they’re hitting 48.5% of their field goal attempts and rank 6th in effective FG%. They’re not the best offensive team but they’re right up there.
Defensively they rank 3rd in block percentage and 1st in defensive rebound percentage, grabbing the rebound on over 81% of missed shots. You better make the first shot if you want to score but be careful about getting it blocked.
LeBron is having a typical LeBron season, playing in every game and averaging 23.9/7.9/7.5. His scoring is down three points from his career average but his rebounds and assists are up a tick. His 7.5 assists per game is easily the highest on the team. Dennis Schroder, their starting point guard, is next at 4.4. LeBron is shooting 47.7% from the field, 3 percent lower than his career number. However, his 3-point percentage is three percent higher. It looks like at age 36 he’s doing a little more passing and 3-point shooting and a little less scoring but otherwise he’s the same guy.
AD’s line is 22.1/8.8/3.5. Both he and LeBron are averaging 32.4 minutes so the Lakers are not overusing them. Schroder is averaging 31 minutes and nobody else is over 25. The Lakers have 11 players averaging over 14 minutes per game so they throw a lot of bodies out there.
At center Montreal Harrell and Marc Gasol combine for 17.7 points and 11.7 rebounds. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope is shooting 55.6% on 3’s and 54.5% overall so you have to be aware of him.
I think the Cavs plan of attack tonight is just to come out with a lot of intensity and go for steals on the defensive end. The Lakers rank 19th in turnovers per possession so that’s one of the few areas where they are not well above average. Offensively the Cavs need to knock down their open shots since they won’t be getting many offensive boards. But against the second best scoring defense it's going to be a tough slog.
It’s not unusual to see a team rebound with a strong game after getting embarrassed, so I’m hoping the Cavs come out with some fire tonight and make the game competitive for as long as possible. They did that against Brooklyn last week. It seemed like they wanted to prove they could beat big name players. They need to take the same approach tonight. They won't catch the Lakers sleeping, though, not after those wins against Brooklyn.
The Lakers beat Milwaukee 113-106 last week. Their most recent loss was a week ago to Golden State 115-113, so they can be beaten from time to time. LeBron and AD played 37-38 minutes but the Warriors pulled it out.
However, I’m pretty sure LeBron is going to make it clear to his teammates that he doesn’t want to lose in Cleveland like the Nets did a few days ago.
On the injury report both LeBron and Anthony Davis are listed as “day-to-day” but they both played two nights ago in Chicago so I don’t know what’s up with that. Maybe the Lakers are thinking about resting one of them. The Lakers are off tomorrow but they do play four games in the next six days.
The Lakers have six players averaging double figures so they spread the ball around. They’re 8th in scoring at 114.3 ppg and 2nd in scoring defense. Points will be hard to come by.
The Lakers don’t take a lot of 3’s, ranking 23rd in 3-rate, but they make them at a rate of 39.3%, which is 5th best. Overall they’re hitting 48.5% of their field goal attempts and rank 6th in effective FG%. They’re not the best offensive team but they’re right up there.
Defensively they rank 3rd in block percentage and 1st in defensive rebound percentage, grabbing the rebound on over 81% of missed shots. You better make the first shot if you want to score but be careful about getting it blocked.
LeBron is having a typical LeBron season, playing in every game and averaging 23.9/7.9/7.5. His scoring is down three points from his career average but his rebounds and assists are up a tick. His 7.5 assists per game is easily the highest on the team. Dennis Schroder, their starting point guard, is next at 4.4. LeBron is shooting 47.7% from the field, 3 percent lower than his career number. However, his 3-point percentage is three percent higher. It looks like at age 36 he’s doing a little more passing and 3-point shooting and a little less scoring but otherwise he’s the same guy.
AD’s line is 22.1/8.8/3.5. Both he and LeBron are averaging 32.4 minutes so the Lakers are not overusing them. Schroder is averaging 31 minutes and nobody else is over 25. The Lakers have 11 players averaging over 14 minutes per game so they throw a lot of bodies out there.
At center Montreal Harrell and Marc Gasol combine for 17.7 points and 11.7 rebounds. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope is shooting 55.6% on 3’s and 54.5% overall so you have to be aware of him.
I think the Cavs plan of attack tonight is just to come out with a lot of intensity and go for steals on the defensive end. The Lakers rank 19th in turnovers per possession so that’s one of the few areas where they are not well above average. Offensively the Cavs need to knock down their open shots since they won’t be getting many offensive boards. But against the second best scoring defense it's going to be a tough slog.
It’s not unusual to see a team rebound with a strong game after getting embarrassed, so I’m hoping the Cavs come out with some fire tonight and make the game competitive for as long as possible. They did that against Brooklyn last week. It seemed like they wanted to prove they could beat big name players. They need to take the same approach tonight. They won't catch the Lakers sleeping, though, not after those wins against Brooklyn.
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