Five takeaways from the Lakers’ 119-108 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers

The first question Lakers Coach Luke Walton was asked after Saturday’s loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers addressed the team’s effort. He answered quickly.

“I loved it,” Walton said.

He went on to talk about the lesson the Lakers are learning about how difficult it is to win in the NBA, especially when facing the defending NBA champions.

Here are five takeaways from that game:

1. Nick Young seems to be back to normal. Better, even. Last night, he set a career high with eight three-pointers that made up the bulk of his game-high 32 points. The Lakers shot the three well as a team, which was a big part of why the Cavaliers never really pulled away from them.
2. Good things happen in the Lakers’ offense when they share the ball well. Last night they had 30 assists, nearly three times as many as they had just three nights ago in Brooklyn. Then, the Lakers only had 11 assists and shot 38.5% in a 107-97 loss.
3. Tarik Black only played three minutes on Friday night and didn’t play at all on Saturday. He was active for the Lakers but has been working through his return from a sprained ankle. Friday’s game marked the first time since he suffered the sprain that he even attempted to play.
4. Cleveland conjures mixed emotions for Walton. It’s a reminder of the NBA Finals series he was part of last season as a Warriors assistant coach. The Warriors lost the series in seven games to the Cavaliers, and Walton said you never get over losing a Game 7. Cleveland is also where the Lakers traded Walton at the end of his playing career. “It was really hard,” Walton said. “[The Lakers were] the only team I ever played for, and that was family. But you understand that it’s a business, and when they tell you that if you’re not in the new city within 48 hours they’re going to take your contract away, you get a backpack and get to the airport.”
5. Brandon Ingram had the Lakers’ best plus/minus rating of the night at plus-1. That’s not surprising as Ingram was one assist and one point away from a triple double. Jordan Clarkson didn’t know how close Ingram was. “He said if he would’ve known, he would’ve helped out a little bit,” Ingram said. “But it’s all fun. It’ll happen again. If it happened once, I can do it again.”

tania.ganguli@latimes.com

Twitter: @taniaganguli