The Los Angeles Lakers faced a stiff challenge from the Cleveland Cavaliers (7-1) on Sunday afternoon.
Early, it looked as if L.A. was ready to meet the challenge. It got out to a sizeable early lead and maintained throughout the first half, as it did a good job defending the rim.
But once Anthony Davis picked up his fourth foul and exited with just under five minutes left in the third quarter, the game turned upside down.
Head coach Darvin Ham went with a small lineup that featured 6-foot-9 Wenyen Gabriel at center. With LeBron James also out for the last 1:59 of the third period and the first 44 seconds of the fourth period, Cleveland built a big lead and pulled away for a 114-100 win.
The Lakers scored 64 points in the first half, but they were held to 16 points in the third quarter and 20 in the fourth quarter. Once again, they couldn’t hit from downtown, as they made just 29.6% of their 3-point attempts.