LOS ANGELES — If the Lakers make a run during the playoffs, then March might be the month to remember.
Capping a 15-2 stretch with a swift 127-113 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday night, the Lakers again proved that they can beat the NBA’s “good” teams too. Yes, their two losses came against the likes of the Denver Nuggets and Detroit Pistons – on the road – but more than half of their March victories came against teams headed for the postseason field.
“Our team right now is the reason that we’re winning,” said Lakers coach JJ Redick, who earned his 100th career regular-season win Tuesday. “Our team; because each guy has contributed to winning.
Tuesday night was more of the same – a focused and determined defensive effort holding an opponent at bay while Luka Doncic fills the basket with elite shot-making. Doncic set the franchise record for points in the month of March, recording 42 points on 13-of-26 shooting (6 for 13 from 3-point range) to pass Kobe Bryant’s March of 2006, as he returned from his one-game suspension for technical foul accumulation.
Doncic, who also had 12 assists and five rebounds, became the third-youngest player in NBA history to reach the 15,000-point milestone with his 33rd point of the game, a free throw that came with 2:27 left in the third quarter. Right before the Slovenian star exited, Doncic powered his way up for a rare two-handed dunk, sending the players on the Lakers’ bench into delirium.
Doncic watched as Jaxson Hayes raised his fists in the air, and Doncic returned the favor before intentionally fouling to check out with 1:21 remaining.
Guard Austin Reaves finished with 19 points, while center Deandre Ayton added 18 points on 8-for-13 shooting to go with nine rebounds to help secure 50 wins for the second straight season – the first time the Lakers had done so since two seasons spanning 2009-2011 when Phil Jackson was head coach.
“It brings a certain type of urgency out there, where you and the guys are doing battle and the chemistry guys make just being around each other on and off the court,” Ayton said when asked about the locker room’s togetherness. “It’s finally showing on the court and it’s contagious and Luka, AR and (LeBron James) made it. They are the leaders of all of that.”
Before the game, a reporter asked Redick if playing the Cavaliers and Oklahoma City Thunder in succession would be a “measuring stick” since the Lakers were soundly beaten by both squads earlier this season.
“I think it’s easy to write that story,” Redick said.
Redick said that since the Lakers defeated the Indiana Pacers on March 6, beginning their nine-game winning streak to kick off their torrid run, they’ve harnessed a “playoff mentality.” Coming out of the All-Star break, there were still plenty of questions about the Lakers’ competitive edge against the NBA’s better teams (.600 or above), whether they could get the likes of Doncic, Reaves and James to play efficiently together.
Now, entering April, the Lakers are writing their own story, a narrative that could threaten the likes of San Antonio and Oklahoma City in the weeks to come.
“I don’t know how exactly, but, you know, I think it was just something natural motion of the game,” Doncic said of the trio of stars clicking together in March. “We just figure out how to play together. I think our ceiling is still higher than what we’re doing now, but I think we all know basketball, a lot of basketball, so it’s just very natural.”
James wasn’t a guarantee to play against his hometown squad Tuesday, considered a game-time decision due to managing his left foot arthritis after playing a team-high 33 minutes in a rout of Washington on Monday. But from the opening tipoff, no one in the arena would have noticed any issue with the 41-year-old James, who made an early effort play to help spark the victory that moved him past Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the most combined regular-season and playoff wins in NBA history.
Cleveland guard Donovan Mitchell collected the first tip and immediately drove toward the hoop. James used every bit of energy to chase Mitchell down the floor, swatting his attempted layup from behind and into the courtside seats. It was just the first of many plays the four-time league MVP made in a 14-point performance.
As the Lakers pulled away from the Cavaliers midway through the third quarter, Ayton deflected a pass from James Harden into the arms of James for a steal.
Playing the fast-break, Jake LaRavia flipped the ball to Reaves who tossed a behind-the-back, over-the-shoulder lob to James who hammered the ball home for a dunk and an 80-63 lead.
“Sometimes I throw (the ball) and I’m like, ‘I threw it way too high,’” Reaves said. This guy is 41 years old, and I told him the other day, ‘I don’t want to hurt you.’ But I throw it literally every time there’s an opportunity, even when there’s not an opportunity, I still throw it. It’s LeBron James. I just feel like he’s going to go get it and dunk it.”
Reminiscent of alley-oop dunks he had make with Dwyane Wade while playing for the Miami Heat, the swing of noise forced Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson to call a timeout. It didn’t help the Cavaliers.
The Lakers led 110-83 by the end of the third quarter and the visitors pulled their starters to begin the fourth.
“Kind of like crazy to see that, a 41-year-old who is still able to move like he does and affect the game at such a high level,” LaRavia said.
LaRavia finished with 14 points on 5-for-5 shooting, his most points since Feb. 28, while starting in place of guard Marcus Smart (right ankle contusion), who has missed the last four games.
Cleveland center Jarrett Allen scored all of his team-leading 18 points on 9-for-11 shooting in 14 minutes in the first half. Allen played just five minutes the rest of the game as the Lakers held the Cleveland backcourt of Mitchell and Harden to just 27 combined points.