CLEVELAND — Despite LeBron James not being on the Cavaliers anymore, former teammates and fans still hold the utmost respect for him. Tuesday at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, it was a homecoming for James as the Cavs took on the Los Angeles Lakers, but it was Donovan Mitchell who stole the show.
The Cavs came in hot in Jarrett Allen’s return after missing five games. By the end of the first quarter, Allen had 14 points and had a nasty dunk to end it, assisted by Mitchell. Mitchell started off the second quarter with an assist to Cedi Osman that wowed the crowd.
Allen ended the first half with 22 points.
While Allen stole the show for the first half, Mitchell came in and took over. Mitchell had fun on the 3-point line and in the paint, with a few And-1s in both the third and fourth quarter. Around the four minute mark in the third, Mitchell had a solo dunk that made the crowd go wild and a three pointer at the top of the key at the seven minute mark in the fourth. Mitchell’s performance was so outstanding that while he was at the free throw line fans started shouting “MVP”. Donovan Mitchell ended with 43 points, six rebounds and five assists.
Darius Garland and Allen both had double-doubles. Garland finished off with 21 points, 11 assists, and three rebounds. Allen had 24 points, 11 rebounds, and three steals.
Evan Mobley had a high of 12 rebounds and seven points.
James was the Lakers leading scorer with 21 points, 17 rebounds, and four assists.
The Cavaliers beat the Lakers, 116-102.
The Cavs will now take a short two-day break before hosting the Sacramento Kings on Friday at 7:30 p.m.
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