LeBron James’ return to Cleveland was spoiled by another double-digit loss to the Lakers

CLEVELAND – The Lakers avoided a potential disaster when star guard Luka Dončić returned to Wednesday night’s game against the Cavaliers late in the first quarter after taking a terrifying fall into the stands just minutes into the game.

But what they didn’t avoid was another double-digit loss in LeBron James’ return to Northeast Ohio with uncertainty surrounding his NBA future beyond this season.

The Lakers were blown out by the Cavaliers 129-99 at Rocket Arena in a game that saw James wrestle in uncharacteristic fashion in front of a crowd that showered him with adoration all evening.

Dončić finished with 29 points, six assists and five rebounds after his return, but the Cavaliers outscored the Lakers 72–44 in the second half, including 42–22 in the third, for their fifth consecutive win.

James finished with 11 points on 3-of-10 shooting to go with six turnovers, five assists and three rebounds.

The only time the Cleveland crowd cheered louder than for James?

When his son and teammate, Bronny James, scored eight points in the fourth quarter — a dunk and a pair of 3-pointers — during garbage time when the Cavaliers were in complete control.

What does it mean?

The Lakers will have to wait even longer before they can start a three-game winning streak – something they’ve done once since late November.

They also fell to 28-18 on the season, maintaining their No. 5 spot in the Western Conference standings and going 3-2 on the “Grammy” trip.

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Turning point

There were two distinct moments on Wednesday: when the Cavaliers took control of the game, and when they took the game by the throat, leaving the Lakers with another double-digit loss.

The first happened immediately after halftime, when the Cavaliers outscored the Lakers 19-10 in the first few minutes of the third quarter, taking a 76-65 lead on seven of their first eight shots, including four three-pointers.

The Cavaliers were still in control of the game after calling a timeout at 4:29 of the quarter after a James layup in transition cut the Lakers’ deficit to 82-70.

Rui Hachimura, who remained scoreless in 18 minutes after missing all seven shot attempts, passed on a corner 3 attempt and turned the ball over on the Lakers’ first possession out of the timeout. That led to a De’Andre Hunter layup in transition that sparked a 17-7 Cleveland run to end the quarter, with the Cavaliers leading 99-77 going into the fourth.

MVP: Jaylon Tyson

The second-year wing continued his strong season, finishing with 20 points, six rebounds and six assists in 29 minutes.

He also picked up a pair of offensive fouls against James, who struggled to find his rhythm for most of Wednesday.

Game stat: 28.1%

After one of their best shooting games of the season in Monday’s win over the Bulls in Chicago, the Lakers followed it up with one of their worst.

They knocked down just nine of their 32 3s against the Cavaliers, including 5 of 18 in the second half.

Dončić (3 of 8 on 3s) and Gabe Vincent (11 points; 3 of 4 on 3s) were the only Lakers to knock down a shot from beyond the arc until Bronny James made a pull-up 3 with 2:53 left.

Dalton Knecht made a late 3 in garbage time before the younger James made another 3, drawing loud cheers from the Cleveland crowd.

Next

The Lakers’ trip continues on Friday with a game against the Wizards.

It will be their penultimate city of the trip before they play two games in New York, with games against the Knicks on Sunday and Nets on Tuesday, respectively.