The Lakers lost 99-129 to the Cavaliers tonight in what could potentially be LeBron James’ last game in Cleveland. They were ahead by 10 points midway through the second quarter when the Cavaliers began making their comeback.
Following the game, JJ Redick spoke to the media and addressed several aspects of this humiliating loss. He spoke about how the Lakers allowed the Cavaliers to make a 10-point comeback from when they were up 40-30 in the game.
“We gave up four points on basically just not playing solid defense. We were gambling and kind of got very disconnected from our guys, and they got two layups, and then, I think they got an offensive rebound or maybe a transition point after a turnover, cut it to four.”
“Then, just you know, for the rest of the quarter, just kind of going back and forth, but yeah, we got outplayed. You can say I got outcoached, like I probably should have made substitutions earlier in that third,” admitted Redick.
“We just didn’t look like we had all our juice tonight and should have gone to the bench earlier in that third. Just felt like an avalanche after that, of threes and layups really,” Redick further added.
The Lakers suffered a major injury scare as Luka Doncic limped off the floor back to the locker room less than five minutes into the first quarter.
Luka Doncic injury 😬 pic.twitter.com/fa8QuLzKqs
— Artoftheleague 🖌️ (@artoftheleague) January 29, 2026
While Lakers fans held their breaths, Doncic soon returned to action in time for the second quarter. However, his absence had already disrupted their momentum.
Redick was asked to explain what was the impact on the team when Doncic went off the floor, and he admitted that it influenced his coaching strategy for the night.
“Yeah, I did not see that. I haven’t watched the play yet. I know that he rolled his ankle, falling off the floor. There have been several injuries over the years in this building because of the floor,” said the Lakers’ head coach initially.
“The substitution patterns got a little bit out of whack. We got back to where we normally were. weren’t able to close exactly the way we 3:03 wanted to in that first half. But really, we got blitzed in the third quarter,” concluded Redick.
Doncic finished the game with 29 points, five rebounds, and six assists while shooting 12-20 from the floor (60.0 FG%) and 3-8 from beyond the arc (37.5 3P%).
But it wasn’t enough as LeBron James and other starters’ shots were simply not falling tonight. James ended up with just 11 points, five assists, and three rebounds while shooting inefficiently 3-10 from the floor tonight (30.0 FG%).
The Lakers fell to 28-18 following this loss to the Cavaliers and are fifth in the Western Conference. They are now headed to Washington to face the Wizards on Friday, January 30.
Meanwhile, the Cavaliers have improved to 29-20 as the fifth seed in the Eastern Conference. They are now headed to Phoenix to face the Suns on Friday night as well.
