Irving overshadows Russell's career-high 40 in Cavs' win over Lakers

Give D'Angelo Russell credit - the NBA sophomore has turned a corner again after a particularly bad stretch of basketball, and scored a career-high 40 points on Sunday. The only problem was that his Los Angeles Lakers lost 125-120 to the Cleveland Cavaliers, led by Kyrie Irving's 46.

Irving shot 71.4 percent in the game, hit six treys, and was a perfect 10-for-10 from the free-throw line. LeBron James added 34 points as Cleveland clinched its third straight postseason spot. It was Irving's second 40-point performance in the month of March.

For Russell, it was the most prolific scoring night of his two-year career. The second pick of the 2015 draft tied a career high with seven treys and was 14-of-22 from the floor. Splitting on-ball possessions with Jordan Clarkson, he added six assists and had two steals.

With his 40 points, the 21-year-old Russell became the youngest Laker to hit that number in franchise history - an impressive feat considering names like Kobe Bryant and Magic Johnson also debuted for the team at young ages.

It's quite a turnaround from last week, when Russell shot 27 percent from the floor and averaged under nine points over three games. In Wednesday's loss to the Houston Rockets, he became the first NBA player since Josh Smith in 2007 to foul out, have more turnovers than fouls, and contribute fewer points than fouls.