How To Get Your Snap Streak Back

WRAP-UP

The young Cavaliers are learning valuable lessons – some more painful than others – on a nightly basis. Friday's lesson was the importance of closing quarters on the road.

The Lakers closed the second and third periods on big runs, stealing the momentum from a scrappy Cleveland team and snapping its win streak at three – taking the 113-101 decision on Friday night at the STAPLES Center.

L.A. held the Wine and Gold to just 16 points in the fourth quarter and shot 55 percent from long-range after intermission, getting 45 points off its bench – including 24 from Carmelo Anthony, who hit three back-breaking triples in the fourth quarter.

The Cavs led by 11 points midway through the second period and by nine with just under three minutes to play in the third. But the Lakers made respective runs that saw them tie the score at intermission and take a three-point lead heading into the final quarter.

Evan Mobley had another outstanding night in front of friends and family – leading Cleveland with 23 points on 10-of-16 shooting, adding six boards, three assists and a pair of steals. The rookie from USC has now tallied double-figure scoring in each of his first six games.

Darius Garland followed up with 18 points – netting 14 of those after halftime – going 6-of-14 from the floor to go with a game-high 11 assists and a steal. Garland's backup, Ricky Rubio, had similar numbers off the bench – finishing with 18 points on 6-for-15 shooting, adding six boards, four helpers and three steals.

Lauri Markkanen was the only other Cavalier in double-figures on Friday, notching 13 of his 17 points before half, going 7-for-14 from the floor, including 3-of-8 from long-range.

LeBron James led both teams with 26 points, going 10-of-22 from the floor, but just 1-of-10 from beyond the arc. James led L.A. with eight assists and three steals but also committed a game-high seen miscues.

Overall, L.A. shot 55 percent from the floor to 43 percent for the Cavs, piling up 60 points in the paint to offset 22 turnovers.

Miss any of the action? Find all the highlights and photos in the Game Tracker.

FEATURED HIGHLIGHT

Rookie Evan Mobley leads the Cavs in points and continues to deliver as he hammers one down.

TURNING POINT

STAPLES Center fans got their money's worth on Friday in a game that featured nine ties and eight lead-changes. In the end, however, the Lakers simply clamped down on Cleveland – determined not to let another game get away from them this week.

With 2:47 to play in the third quarter, Ricky Rubio's triple gave the Cavs a nine-point edge, 85-76. But that's as good as it would get for the Wine and Gold on Friday.

Austin Reaves and Carmelo Anthony drilled back-to-back bombs to start the scoring and Anthony closed the scoring in the third with a pull-up triple, capping a 12-0 run that gave L.A. a three-point lead. The Cavs clawed their way back to take a one-point lead with 7:23 to play, but the Lakers answered with a 15-2 run to seal the deal.

BY THE NUMBERS

By the Numbers - 79, 13.2 … total free throws and average free throws that the Cavaliers allow opponents to shoot this season, both tops in the NBA. They allowed just 10 free throw attempts by the Lakers on Friday, five of them by LeBron.

Cleveland attempts the fourth-most free throws in the league and shoots the 10th-best percentage.

QUOTABLE

J.B. Bickerstaff, on his team's effort on Friday night in L.A. …

"This was a valuable lesson for us. You can't make mistakes like we did, because they're going to capitalize on them, take advantage of them. Give them their credit obviously. I just think there were things that we were doing to hurt ourselves. Trying to force plays, playing in small spaces, some mistakes we made on the defensive end that allowed them to get open shots. So, good for us to able to see, and to learn from it, and move on."

CALLS OF THE GAME

Enjoy the best broadcast calls of the night from Cavaliers Radio Network's Tim Alcorn and Rafa Hernandez-Brito from Power 89.1.

UP NEXT

The Cavaliers close out the five-game trip with two more stops – and it doesn't get any easier.

On Saturday night, they play the second half of the weekend back-to-back – traveling to Phoenix for a battle with Chris Paul and the well-rested Suns. Two nights later they wrap up the roadie with a matchup with Miles Bridges, LaMelo Ball and the red-hot Hornets.

Cleveland returns to face Damian Lillard and the Blazers on Wednesday night at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse before getting right back on the road for stops in Portland and New York.