LOS ANGELES – The Cavs coming to town as a top Eastern Conference team posed another tough challenge for the Lakers. As was true throughout March, however, the Lakers were up to the test.
They beat the Cavs 127-113 on Tuesday, and did so with great performances up and down the roster.
Luka Dončić, back from his suspension, was racking up points. Austin Reaves was attacking the paint and LeBron James gave everyone a glimpse of Showtime with highlight plays throughout the night.
While LA’s big three brought their best, so did their starting center, Deandre Ayton.
Ayton flirted with a double-double with 18 points and nine rebounds and was a huge reason this game was put to bed early. He was aggressive offensively and a defensive force, neutralizing the Cavs’ frontcourt of Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley.
“He’s been playing great basketball for a long time now,” Luka said postgame. ”So we just need him to keep doing what he does and when he plays like that it helps us win.”
Ayton’s dominance really started during the second quarter.
With Cleveland trailing by two points entering the period, this contest seemed destined to be the tough game it was advertised to be on paper. Ayton stepped up to tip things in the Lakers’ favor.
His offensive onslaught began with a dunk off a LeBron pass. James then connected with Ayton again a few possessions later, this time with the center scoring from just inside the free throw line. Ayton followed that up with a tip dunk off a rare Luka miss, then scored on a floater that gave the Lakers a double-digit advantage.
No one in this contest was better on the glass than Ayton. He had a game-high nine rebounds, including a whopping six offensive boards. A statistic like offensive rebounding won’t typically be highlighted, but on this Lakers team, they understand how important it is to grab those boards and keep possession on misses.
“He’s a very unselfish player,” Rui Hachimura said. “We love him here. I think his presence, just being there, he’s 7’1”, long wingspan and all that, using his body to protect the rim, getting those offensive rebounds, whatever we missed. It’s been great.”
Scoring and rebounding are obvious ways to demonstrate Ayton’s impact, but his game was loud in small ways as well.
He was keeping his hands up on defense and deflecting passes in traffic. Arguably the best Lakers highlight of the night, a LeBron alley-oop, started with Ayton creating a turnover.
In the third, Ayton had a beautiful Gortat screen midway through the quarter, which opened up the driving lane for Luka to get an easy two points. Dončić acknowledged Ayton’s grunt work, pointing to him after the basket went in.
Thanks to Ayton’s focus on both ends of the court, the Cavs never threatened and the Lakers ended March with another win, firmly cementing themselves as the third seed in the West.
Ayton was brought to the Lakers to play in these high-leverage games and provide them with an elite offensive scorer with the size and strength to compete against the best big men in the NBA.
As one of the few Lakers with NBA Finals experience, Ayton knows what it takes to win. And if he keeps this level of play up, the biggest moments of this year for himself and the Lakers are yet to come.
“I miss this type of feeling, I’m not gonna lie,” Ayton said. “There’s a certain type of urgency out there where you and this guy been battling, the chemistry you guys made just being around each other on and off the court. It’s finally showing on the court and it’s contagious.”
You can follow Edwin on Twitter at @ECreates88 or on Bluesky at @ecreates88.bsky.social.
