The NBA closes the book on 2024 when the league-leading Cleveland Cavaliers visit the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday in the last game of the calendar year.
Cleveland comes into the New Year’s Eve tilt on the second leg of a back-to-back set and playing the third date in a four-game Western Conference road swing. The Cavaliers overwhelmed Golden State on the defensive end in a 113-95 rout on Monday in San Francisco, holding the Warriors to 33-of-99 shooting from the floor.
The Monday win marked the third time the high-scoring Cleveland team held its opponent to fewer than 100 points this season. Two of those came in the past two weeks, as the Cavaliers rolled to a 126-99 blowout of the Philadelphia 76ers on Dec. 21, part of Cleveland’s ongoing, seven-game winning streak.
The seven-game run is part of a stretch in which the Cavaliers have won 11 of 12, contributing to their best start in franchise history.
“It’s been a great year. A lot of ups and downs, but we’re in an up right now,” Cleveland guard Darius Garland, who scored a game-high 25 points on Monday, said in his postgame interview with FanDuel Sports Network. “We’re going to try to keep going up right now. Hope we have a lot more ups going into 2025.”
Los Angeles, meanwhile, has won five of six following a 132-122 decision over the visiting Sacramento Kings on Saturday.
Anthony Davis posted 36 points, 15 rebounds and eight assists and Austin Reaves registered 26 points and a career-high 16 assists to lead the way with LeBron James sidelined due to an illness.
James and Davis (sprained left ankle) are listed as questionable for Tuesday’s game.
Rookie Dalton Knecht added 18 points in his second consecutive double-figure-point scoring performance. Knecht erupted in a November stretch with consecutive games of 37 points and 27 points, but he endured a stretch of six games in December during which he averaged only 4.3 points per contest.
Since last taking the court, the Lakers shook up their roster by making a trade with the Nets. Los Angeles sent D’Angelo Russell, Maxwell Lewis and three second-round draft picks to Brooklyn in exchange for Dorian Finney-Smith and Shake Milton.
Russell averaged 12.4 points per game this season but was shooting only 41.5 percent from the floor. Finney-Smith averaged 10.4 points and 4.6 rebounds per game in 20 appearances this season for Brooklyn, while Milton averaged 7.4 points per game in his 27 appearances primarily coming off the bench.
“Excited (to be) back to playing meaningful basketball,” Finney-Smith said of the trade. “It’s been awhile, but I’m excited, especially if I can go (vs. Cleveland).”
James said of his new teammates, “They bring experience, they bring toughness, and (are) guys (who) have played in big games. They’ve mastered their roles throughout their careers, and I’m looking forward to them getting into our system.”
Should the newcomers be available on Tuesday, it could give Los Angeles some depth against a Cleveland team that has thrived with depth and balance.
Donovan Mitchell (23.6 points per game) and Garland (20.7 ppg) lead a contingent of six Cavaliers averaging in double figures.
–Field Level Media
