The 2024-25 NBA season has brought surprises in both conferences. In the West, the Oklahoma City Thunder sit atop the standings, largely due to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s stellar play. In the East, however, it’s the Cleveland Cavaliers who are asserting their dominance. On Tuesday, they defeated the Los Angeles Lakers 122-110, with coach JJ Redick offering high praise for their opponents.
“They’re not going to let you beat them. They’re not going to beat themselves. They really believe in what they’re doing,” Redick said in the post-game press conference at Crypto.com Arena, highlighting the Cavaliers’ collective effort and their unshakable confidence.
While the Lakers coach acknowledged his team’s competitive spirit, he also noted what it takes to overcome a team as formidable as the Cavaliers. “I thought our guys had really good spirit and continued to compete and gave ourselves a chance to be right there at the end,” he said. “Against teams as good as Cleveland you have to play close to perfect basketball.”
Redick pinpointed the three-point shooting discrepancy as a major factor in the Lakers’ loss. “They have some really good shot makers on their team and overall our defense in terms of execution, physicality, intensity was good. You think about some of those threes they made and some of the threes we missed,” he said. “They were obviously able to generate 11 more, but it’s really the difference in the game.”
He also explained the challenge of countering that: “If you’re going to have that level of disparity from the three-point line, the only way to really counteract that is to get a really high amount of free throw attempts and them have no free throw attempts,” Redick explained. “We didn’t get that tonight. Thought we generated good looks and they didn’t go down.”
Donovan Mitchell of the Cleveland Cavaliers
Cavaliers’ balanced attack
The Cavaliers’ success didn’t rely on a single player. Jarrett Allen led the charge with 27 points, while Donovan Mitchell added 26. Evan Mobley contributed 20, Max Strus chipped in with 15, and Darius Garland rounded out the scoring with 14.
“Look at some of the numbers. Mitchell hit some threes, but Mitchell and Garland didn’t have great shooting nights,” Redick said. “We were really bad with our wing shots and we were really bad with our low man Allen and Mobley there at the rim, they really hurt us as well besides the three-pointers.”
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What’s next for the Cavaliers?
With the win against the Los Angeles Lakers, the Cleveland Cavaliers confirmed their supremacy right now and maintain a considerable lead in the Eastern Conference standings. They now clearly surpass their closest competitors, the Boston Celtics, who are second with a 24-9 record. The next challenge for Cleveland will be on Friday at the American Airlines Center against the Dallas Mavericks.
