The Cleveland Cavaliers travel to Los Angeles to take on the Lakers who will be without both LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
Not too long ago this game would have been an automatic loss for the Cleveland Cavaliers. Facing the reigning champion Lakers in Los Angeles with LeBron James and Anthony Davis in the lineup, that is a no-win scenario for the Cavs. While there is still a chance that the Cavaliers could lose, the fact that the Lakers will be without both LeBron and AD gives Cleveland a significantly better chance.
Without their two best players the Lakers leaders in various categories take quite a step down. Dennis Schroeder leads the team in scoring (15) and assists (4.7) while their leading rebounder is Kyle Kuzma with 6.7 per game. Schroeder and Alex Caruso are tied for the team lead in steals per game with 1 each.
The Lakers are currently on a four-game losing streak and the fact they are facing the Cavs gives them a good chance to snap it. Meanwhile the Cavaliers won their last game against the Chicago Bulls 103-94 and have won three of their last five games. Cleveland is looking to win consecutive games for the first time since the beginning of March.
There will be a bit of an adjustment period for the Cavaliers as they traded JaVale McGee to Denver and finally ended the Andre Drummond saga. McGee was usually a pretty consistent bench option for the Cavs while Drummond has not played since early February.
If there is ever a time for the Cavaliers to win a game that they have no business winning this is it. The Lakers are vulnerable and Cleveland can find a way to crawl their way back up the standings and possibly get into the bottom end of the playoff discussion.
