The Los Angeles Lakers (14-51) welcome the Cleveland Cavaliers (45-18), the Eastern Conference’s best team, to the Staples Center. The game gets underway at 10:30 pm ET on Thursday, Mar. 10 and will air on TNT, FxO and TWC.
The Lakers were victorious over the Magic 107-98 on Tuesday. D’Angelo Russell was the game’s high scorer with 27 points on 11-for-19 shooting. The Cavaliers, meanwhile, are coming off a 120-111 win over the Kings on Wednesday. Kyrie Irving shot 11-for-22 and led in scoring with 30 points.
Over the last five games, Russell has been playing at a high level for the Lakers. During that stretch, he has averaged 23.6 points, 2.8 rebounds, 4.4 assists, 1.8 steals, and 3.4 three-pointers. Irving has also been on fire in the same span, averaging 24.0 points, 2.8 rebounds, 5.4 assists, 1.4 steals, 0.6 blocks, and 2.6 three-pointers while leading the Cavaliers.
The high-octane offense of the Cavaliers (fifth in the league with an offensive efficiency of 108.0) will try to exploit the poor defense of the Lakers (30th in the NBA with a defensive efficiency of 110.0), a matchup that should be advantageous to Cleveland.
This will be the second matchup of the season between these two teams. The Cavaliers won the first game 120-111. Irving scored a game-high 35 points.
The Lakers enter the game with records of 14-51 Straight Up (SU) and 32-33 Against The Spread (ATS). They have gone 14-51 SU and 32-33 ATS against teams from the Eastern Conference.
On the other side, Cleveland has a SU record of 45-18 and an ATS record of 28-33-2. In Western Conference games, Cleveland has gone 45-18 SU and 28-33-2 ATS. The Cavaliers are an excellent long-range shooting team with 637 three-point shots made (10.0 per game), ranking fifth in the NBA. Cleveland’s three-point defense is one of the top in the league, with opponents making only 7.0 shots from the three-point line per game.
Cleveland won the last meeting this season between these two teams, bringing its SU record in the past 10 games to 6-4. The teams have an even record ATS, 5-5.
Predictions: SU Winner – Cle
Notes
Both Cleveland and Los Angeles rank zeroth in points per game and points allowed per game respectively. Cleveland scores 0.0 points per game, while Los Angeles gives up 0.0.
Cleveland and Los Angeles are well matched, ranking zeroth in points per away game and points allowed at home respectively. Cleveland scores an average of 0.0 points on the road, while Los Angeles gives up 0.0 points at home on average.
In games where they allow fewer than 100 points, the Cleveland Cavaliers are a dazzling 25-8. In games where they score fewer than 100 points, the Los Angeles Lakers have a subpar record of 5-35.
When allowing at least 100 points, the Cavaliers are 20-10 on the season. When the Lakers hit triple digits, they are a poor 9-16.
Ranked fifth, the Cavaliers have an offensive rating of 108.0. The Lakers, on the other hand, rank 30th with a defensive rating of 110.0.
The Cleveland Cavaliers have one of the best field goal percentages this season, ranking 10th in the league with a FG% of 45.8%. When their opponents record a similar or higher FG%, the Los Angeles Lakers have an abysmal 5-37 record.
The Cleveland Cavaliers rank lower for their field goal percentage (10th) than their effective field goal percentage (fifth), while the Los Angeles Lakers rank the same for both metrics (30th).
On average, the Cleveland Cavaliers make 22.3 assists per game and the Los Angeles Lakers make 18.2. Cleveland is ranked 14th, while Los Angeles is ranked 30th.
The Los Angeles Lakers average 4.2 blocks per game for a rank of 24th. The Cleveland Cavaliers rank lower (28th), earning 3.6 blocks each game.
Los Angeles is ranked 12th when it comes to offensive rebounding. Cleveland ranks ninth in defensive rebounds.
The Los Angeles Lakers make an average of 7.1 steals per game. When the Cleveland Cavaliers allow 7 or more steals, they are a solid 26-9.
