LeBron James

LeBron James warned his team about the Los Angeles nightlife and the Cavaliers responded well, writes Chris Haynes.

(Alex Gallardo, AP)

LOS ANGELES - Before embarking on the four-game West Coast road trip, LeBron James met with members of the Cavs at varying times to stress the importance of carrying themselves the right way in Los Angeles.

"His main message was that this is a business trip," J.R. Smith told cleveland.com. "Are we going to have fun? Absolutely, but first things first. We're going to take care of business, and that's playing the way we know how to play. Fortunately, we took heed of his message and played the way we were supposed to."

James knew the temptation that would exist.

"You can certainly get caught up in the weather and stuff like that," Smith said.

The scene is Southern California, home to one of the most attractive and entertaining evening atmospheres in all the country. It's where fun takes place at various degrees, but it also can be a place for trouble. And for some youngsters, fun and trouble tend to go hand-and-hand when enjoying the nightlife.

At a crucial juncture of the season in which the Cleveland Cavaliers are trying to establish focus and consistency before the playoffs, the NBA schedule called for them to spend three nights in La La Land.

Cleveland defeated the Lakers on Thursday and had to hang around for Sunday afternoon's game with the Clippers. It had all the makings of a trap game. How they would respond was the million-dollar question.

If the Clippers thought the Cavaliers were putty in their hands, they were sadly mistaken. After falling down 14-4 on the road in a hostile environment, Cleveland took control of that game, and made it mightily unpleasant for the opposition with each offensive possession.

The Cavaliers executed flawlessly with crisp passes into the shooting pocket of players, leading to wide-open spot-up opportunities. James and Kyrie Irving forced the Clippers to rotate over, but then that started the Clippers' defensive breakdown. Los Angeles was at least two steps too slow locating the open guy.

Smith and Channing Frye had a field day, letting shots fly with no hesitation as they combined to go 10-of-15 from downtown. As a team, the Cavs converted 18-of-35 from 3-point range. It got to the point of being embarrassing. The Clippers found themselves down by as many as 26 before losing 114-90.

Exactly which team was doing the partying the night before?

"He (LeBron) just said having a couple of days off in L.A., we had to be professionals and getting our rest," Cavs big man Tristan Thompson told cleveland.com. "Obviously you want to enjoy the weather and the atmosphere of being on the West Coast, but at the same time, we're here for business and being professionals. That's what we did and it was displayed this afternoon."

After Irving went on a personal 5-0 run in the fourth quarter, the bench went unhinged. They proceeded to jump, dance and clown around in support of their teammates playing so well and continuing the assault. They saved their best dance moves for this moment. The Staples Center, not the club, served as the venue to get their party on in Los Angeles.

"I think out guys did a great job of enjoying the sun but getting their rest and not doing anything crazy," Cavs coach Tyronn Lue said.

Cleveland is one win away from sweeping this trip. The hardest and most tempting test has concluded, and they passed with flying colors. The city of Los Angeles struck out this time, and now it's off to Salt Lake City to complete the quartet.

This team may be maturing before our very eyes.

"Guys understood what this trip was about," James said. "This is a business trip and they get an opportunity to be in a great city but at the end of the day, we knew what the main thing was and that was to continue the momentum that we've been on. We came out and took care of business."