For so long it was LeBron James who was dominating visiting teams at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.
But this is a new era in Cleveland and Donovan Mitchell is now the one leading the way.
Mitchell took over to make a statement as the Cleveland Cavaliers took down the Los Angeles Lakers 116-112 on Wednesday.
Mitchell started slow but caught fire in the second quarter and did not look back, finishing the game with 43 points, four steals, five assists and six rebounds.
Anthony Davis, fresh off a 55-point statement against the Wizards, made an immediate impact as he found James for a dunk in the opening minute.
The Lakers though then went 0-for-5 from the field as the Cavaliers jumped out to a 10-3 lead, hitting all five of their shots.
A pair of 3-pointers from Patrick Beverley and James helped close the gap, seeing Cleveland’s lead cut to 12-9 before Jarrett Allen scored, taking his total to six points after just four minutes.
Allen was having it all his way, targeting James in drop coverage with Stan Van Gundy urging the Lakers to adjust their defence accordingly while speaking in commentary for TNT.
“They are decimating the Lakers’ pick-and-roll defence right now,” Van Gundy said.
Unfortunately for the Lakers that assignment only became that much tougher when Davis was ruled out for the remainder of the game with flu-like symptoms.
Cleveland took a 27-26 lead after the first quarter, although the two teams struggled to find their shooting rhythm, combining for 4-for-21 from deep in the opening period.
Those shooting struggles did not extend to Allen though, who was the biggest bright spot for the Cavs, ending the quarter with 14 points after shooting 7-for-7 from the field.
If anything, it was L.A.’s second unit that was keeping it in the contest, outscoring Cleveland’s reserves 15-2.
Allen continued his strong opening to the game in the second with a layup to make it 29-26 before dunking it home to push Cleveland’s lead out to 33-28.
The Cavaliers continued to find success by driving to the basket and finding Allen, who finished the half with 22 points and seven rebounds after shooting 10-for-11 from the field.
While it was a blow for the Lakers to lose Davis early in the game it also gave them an opportunity to see if any role players could stand up with the added responsibility.
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It was primarily the usual suspects leading the way at halftime for L.A. though, with James (11 points) and Russell Westbrook (10 points) helping fill the void.
Thomas Bryant though also had a handy 11 points of his own, with Beverley (1-for-5), Lonnie Walker IV (0-for-4), Denis Schroder (0-for-2) and Austin Reaves (0-for-2) all struggling from deep.
The Cavs went on a 12-2 run to end the half but the Lakers only found themselves trailing 57-49.
Allen had been leading the way for Cleveland but Mitchell also heated up late in the second quarter to finish the half with 14 points while Darius Garland had nine points and eight assists.
The Lakers were able to level it back up at 65-65 four minutes into the third quarter, with James (four points, one assist), Schroder (seven points) and Walker IV (three points) all contributing.
Everytime the Cavaliers threatened to start to push away the Lakers would push back and went into the fourth only trailing 85-83.
L.A. continued to keep it close, taking full advantage of offensive rebounds and second-chance points to make up for its shooting deficiencies and level the game once more at 90-90 with nine minutes left.
Mitchell then took over to score Cleveland’s next seven points, prompting L.A. to call a timeout, now trailing 97-92.
Mitchell continued to prove unstoppable as he added another eight points to help the Cavs push out to a 113-98 buffer, forcing the Lakers into another timeout.
There was just over three minutes on the clock at that point, with L.A. on the verge of being blown out despite a promising opening to the quarter.
In the end it was Mitchell’s night, with MVP chants erupting as he led the Cavs to a comfortable win.
