Cleveland Cavaliers vs LA Lakers Player Stats and Box Score for Dec. 31 | 2024-25 NBA Season

The LA Lakers welcomed the Cleveland Cavaliers to Crypto.com Arena for a New Year's Eve showdown. The Cavaliers were playing the second game of a back-to-back, easily beating the Golden State Warriors on Monday night. The Lakers, on the other hand, had two days off after defeating the Sacramento Kings.

LeBron James played his first game as a 40-year-old, celebrating his birthday on Monday. It's also a reunion with his former team, who also owns the best record in the NBA at 28-4. The Lakers were blown out by the Cavs 134-110 when they visited Cleveland on Oct. 30.

It wasn't a total blowout, but the Cavaliers did the same thing again to the Lakers on Tuesday night. Jarrett Allen dropped 27 points and 14 rebounds to lead Cleveland to a dominating 122-110 win. Donovan Mitchell had 26 points, four rebounds and four assists, while Max Strus scored 20 points off the bench.

Austin Reaves had a near triple-double of 35 points, nine rebounds and 10 assists, while LeBron James contributed 23 points, four rebounds and seven assists. Anthony Davis had a great game with 28 points, 13 rebounds, four assists, three steals and two blocks, but it was not enough.

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Cleveland Cavaliers vs LA Lakers Player Stats and Box Score

Cavaliers

Players	PTS	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PF	MIN	FG	3PT	FT	+/-
Dean Wade	3	9	2	0	0	0	2	24	1-4	0-3	1-1	9
Evan Mobley	20	6	1	1	1	2	1	31	8-14	2-4	2-2	7
Jarrett Allen	27	14	1	1	3	1	0	31	12-14	0-0	3-4	12
Darius Garland	14	2	14	2	1	3	1	32	5-16	2-8	2-2	10
Donovan Mitchell	26	4	4	0	0	3	0	32	8-20	6-13	4-5	9
Georges Niang	9	3	1	0	0	0	1	18	3-5	2-3	1-2	-3
Caris LeVert	3	1	2	1	1	1	2	23	1-4	1-3	0-0	4
Ty Jerome	5	6	2	0	0	1	1	14	2-6	1-3	0-0	6
Max Strus	15	3	4	0	2	0	5	26	5-9	4-8	1-1	5
Sam Merrill	0	0	1	0	0	0	2	8	0-1	0-1	0-0	1
Jaylon Tyson	DNP
JT Thor	DNP
Tristan Thompson	DNP
Craig Porter Jr.	DNP

Lakers

Players	PTS	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PF	MIN	FG	3PT	FT	+/-
Anthony Davis	28	13	4	3	2	1	2	37	12-23	2-4	2-2	-6
Rui Hachimura	7	5	0	1	0	1	1	30	3-10	0-3	1-2	-17
LeBron James	23	4	7	0	1	2	1	34	9-17	3-6	2-2	-11
Austin Reaves	35	9	10	1	0	4	2	38	11-20	1-4	12-13	-3
Max Christie	5	1	2	1	0	0	3	28	2-6	1-5	0-0	-17
Dorian Finney-Smith	2	2	2	0	0	0	2	20	1-4	0-2	0-0	7
Cam Reddish	0	4	0	1	0	0	0	19	0-3	0-2	0-0	-1
Shake Milton	6	2	0	0	0	0	1	10	2-4	2-4	0-0	-9
Dalton Knecht	4	3	1	0	0	0	0	22	2-8	0-5	0-0	-3
Jaxson Hayes	DNP
Gabe Vincent	DNP
Bronny James	DNP

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Cleveland Cavaliers vs LA Lakers Game Summary

The Cleveland Cavaliers took control of the first quarter, going ahead by as much as 15 points at the midway point of the period. However, the LA Lakers went on an 11-0 run to close the gap and finish the quarter strong. Cleveland still entered the next period with a 34-30 advantage.

LeBron James had 10 points in the quarter, while Austin Reaves added nine points. Donovan Mitchell struggled for the Cavs with just three points, but Darius Garland and Evan Mobley picked up the slack with nine points each.

In the second quarter, the Lakers took the 43-42 lead at the 6:10 mark before the Cavaliers got it back quickly. Cleveland tried to build another double-digit advantage, but Reaves and Anthony Davis kept the Lakers afloat enough to just be down 58-53 at halftime.

The LA Lakers managed to bring the lead back to two points at the 7:54 mark of the third quarter before Max Strus hit back-to-back 3-point shots, creating some sort of separation. The Lakers trimmed it to two points again four minutes later, but the Cleveland Cavaliers had an answer every time.

Entering the fourth quarter, the Cavs had an 87-75 lead over the Lakers. Donovan Mitchell opened the period with a long-range bomb to give Cleveland a double-digit advantage. They managed to grow their advantage by as much as 16 points, foiling any Lakers attempt at a comeback.

The Cavs are now 29-4 and are still atop the entire NBA, while the Lakers dropped to 18-14. They are just seventh in the Western Conference standings, behind teams such as Dallas Mavericks, Denver Nuggets and LA Clippers.