Cleveland Cavaliers’ Kevin Love, center, tries to shoot against Los Angeles Lakers’ Tarik Black (28) in the first quarter of an NBA basketball game, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2015, in Cleveland. AP
CLEVELAND, United States – Kevin Love scored a season-high 32 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to spark the Cleveland Cavaliers over the Los Angeles Lakers 120-105.
Bouncing back after the end of a 12-game win streak with a Friday loss at Indiana, the Cavaliers improved to 32-21, staying on the heels of central division leader Chicago.
Australian guard Kyrie Irving scored 28 points while LeBron James added 22 points and both James and Russian big man Timofey Mozkov each grabbed 10 rebounds.
But the main spark was Love, who was only 2-of-8 shooting for five points in the loss at Indiana but spent an extra hour working on his shooting after practice and made 11-of-18 from the floor against the Lakers, including 7-of-8 from 3-point range.
“We just came off a tough loss at Indiana so we really wanted to get this one,” Love said. “We just keep playing through adversity the best we can.”
The Lakers, playing without injured star Kobe Bryant for the remainder of the season, fell to 13-38.
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