He Lakers were once again buried under an avalanche of three-pointers from the Cleveland Cavaliers, the spacing and gaps on the floor pushing the Lakers’ defense into every corner before it finally broke under the strain.
The result was the same, but the process and the team the Cavaliers beat Tuesday night at Crypto.com Arena in the final game of 2024 was fundamentally different from one that exploded on October 30 in Cleveland.
The version of the Lakers that was smoked in Cleveland was the one that tried to get the most out of a formula that had already shown that it had a ceiling, losing during the two previous postseasons against the Denver Nuggets. It was one that expected a core of LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Austin Reaves and D’Angelo Russell Paired with a new coach he could find another gear, another level.
This week, the Lakers decided that vision would not end well. This week, the Lakers, at least, have fundamentally changed.
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While the NBA’s best team at 29-4 crushed every Lakers push, usually with some combination of grueling 3-pointers from Donovan Mitchell, Evan Mobley or reserve Max Strus, the Lakers showed flashes of the ways they will be different in the future. Better or worse remains to be seen.
Reaves, again seeing his volume increase with Russell now playing for the Brooklyn Nets, led the Lakers with 35 points and 10 assists, bouncing back from a poor first shift. Davis scored 28 points and 13 rebounds. And James, playing for the first time since turning 40, scored 23.
But Cleveland scored 11 more three-pointers than the Lakers and made nine more. They scored 24 points thanks to offensive rebounds, compared to 12 for the Lakers. And, despite playing Monday in San Francisco, they set the pace and physicality from the start as the Lakers quickly chased double digits.
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Dorian Finney Smith He played 21 minutes in his Lakers debut, scoring on a dunk but scoreless on his other three shots. Shake Milton, playing because guard Gabe Vincent missed Tuesday’s game with an oblique injury, hit a pair of 3-pointers in his 10 minutes, but the Lakers’ second unit without Russell was comprehensively outscored 32-12.
Cleveland, looking a lot like a fully formed team as the calendar turns to 2025, managed to have five players with at least 15 points led by Jarrett Allen’s 27.
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This story originally appeared on Los Angeles Times.