CLEVELAND -- Power forward Kevin Love came out shooting, as did his teammates, and that led the Cleveland Cavaliers to a 120-105 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers at Quicken Loans Arena Sunday afternoon.
In only 35 minutes of action, Love buried 11 of his 18 shots from the field, including a seven-of-eight mark from three-point range, en route to scoring a game-high 32 points against the Lakers (13-38), whom the Cavaliers (32-21) have beaten now twice in the last three weeks.
"It was the same approach to the game," Love said. "I just happened to knock down the looks I had tonight. The team got me going, and it was a good win for us."
Love's season-high 32 points come on the heels of a five-point effort in Friday's 103-99 loss to the Indiana Pacers at Banker's Life Fieldhouse. Love's five-point performance against the Pacers was his second such total in the last week.
He also scored only five points in a 13-point win over the Philadelphia 76ers last Monday.
"I thought he was outstanding," Cavaliers coach David Blatt said. "I was real happy with his activity level. I thought he moved really well to spots and got himself prepared for the opportunity that came his way. I thought he played really good basketball at both ends of the court. That's reflected in his numbers, but more importantly, he was very, very active tonight and seemed to be fresh and that was good."
Point guard Kyrie Irving scored 12 points and staked the Cavaliers out to a 32-28 lead over the Lakers after the first quarter of play, and then, Love took over offensively.
Love scored 17 points, including a two-minute stretch where he buried four straight three-pointers that ballooned a 50-41 advantage with 4:22 to play before halftime to a 62-43 lead at the 1:34 mark of the second quarter.
"We need Kev to play at a high level, and obviously, making seven out of eight from three is a huge plus, but we know he can shoot the ball," all-star forward LeBron James said. "We expect a lot out of him, and he gave us everything he had tonight."
Irving added, "It was great to see his shot falling like that tonight. All the hard work he puts in behind the scenes has come to fruition. He's shooting the same shots, and they just went in tonight. I'm just thankful for that."
In addition to Love's double-double of 32 points and 10 defensive rebounds, James scored 22 points, collected 10 rebounds and handed out eight assists in 30 minutes, while Irving tallied out 10 assists and added 28 points, on 10 of 14 shooting, including a five-of-eight mark from three-point range.
The Cavaliers also got 10 points and eight rebounds from power forward Tristan Thompson and 12 points from shooting guard Iman Shumpert off the bench.
"It wasn't just me," Irving said. "Kyrie had a great first quarter. LeBron, in the third, was great. I had my second quarter where I shot it well. It was a team effort today."
Lakers coach Byron Scott added, "The one thing we told our guys was, 'Take away his airspace,' and we didn't do a good job of that. When he did catch it at the three-point line, we chopped our steps instead of really running at him and making him put it on the floor. He was knocking down threes like it was nothing, and you've got to make him do something different."
