Carmelo Anthony came off the bench to shoot 6-for-8 from behind the 3-point arc and finish with 24 points, and he ignited a decisive fourth-quarter scoring run that powered the host Los Angeles Lakers past the Cleveland Cavaliers 113-101 on Friday.
Anthony connected on three 3-pointers during a game-ending, 23-10 Lakers run that spanned almost eight minutes. He bookended a 15-2 stretch amid that same spell with a pair from long range.
After giving up a 15-3 Lakers run to close the third quarter trailing by three points, Cleveland battled back. Darius Garland (18 points) sank a trey to give the Cavaliers a 91-90 lead, but Anthony answered from long range on the next possession.
The Lakers scored 10 unanswered including that basket, taking a lead they never relinquished.
LeBron James, back after missing two games with a sore right ankle, led all scorers with 26 points despite shooting 1-of-10 from 3-point range. He also dished a team-high eight assists, half of which came during the concluding run.
Two of James’ late assists set up Anthony for successful 3-point attempts. James also initiated a crucial sequence with about five minutes remaining, throwing cross-court out of a double-team to Kent Bazemore, who quickly rotated to a wide-open Avery Bradley for a 3-pointer.
Bradley’s bucket pushed the Lakers’ lead to nine points and forced a Cavaliers timeout.
Cleveland came into Friday’s contest a winner of three straight, holding all three opponents to fewer than 100 points. The Cavaliers built a double-digit lead in the second quarter but gave up 25 points in a little more than nine minutes to close out the period.
They held the Los Angeles Clippers to fewer than 25 for the entirety of three of the four quarters in a win Wednesday night.
Rookie Evan Mobley led the Cavaliers with a career-high 23 points. Ricky Rubio added 18 points off the bench, and Lauri Markkanen added 17 points. Garland dished a game-high 11 assists.
–Field Level Media
