I was in the middle of writing how it wasn't the Cavs night in Los Angeles. They had fallen behind by 18 in the fourth quarter, but led by LeBron James the Cavs cut the lead to seven with 3:32 left and made a game of things. That happened with rookie J.J. Hickson on the floor playing some important minutes.
The comeback didn't last as Derek Fisher made a jumper and Pau Gasol slammed one to make the Lakers lead 10 with 2:00 left.
So I'm back to writing that it was not the Cavs night. James makes an unbelievable strip and steal of Kobe Bryant, then loses the ball heading up the court when he gets head-butted and there is no call. It happens.
The Cavs lost to the Lakers because their staples let them down. In the Staples Center of all places. The Cavs did not defend well, did not shoot well and did not rebound. They also missed Z. Without Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Lakers like Pau Gasol had a field day. Or night, as the case may be. Watching Wally Szczerbiak try to guard Gasol was not pretty.
This was not the Cavs night — even though James had some pretty spectacular moments. But Bryant played through a dislocated finger and the Lakers won. Good things these seasons are 82 games long.
Doug Collins said on TV that the Lakers defense was good. I think the Cavs missed a lot of open shots. They had many good shots — "looks" as they're called nowadays — but they missed them.
This game to me also highlights the Cavs need to consider finding another big man. Someone who can provide what Joe Smith provided late last season. Without Z, the lack of the extra big man is more noticed, but even with Z one more big man will help.
Like I said, good thing these seasons are 82 games long.
Out of curiosity, why is it that the local media never mentions the opponent's injuries, but whenever a guy on the Cavaliers gets a paper cut, the apologies and excuses come flowing? Sure, Ilgauskas is a tall guy, but he's a glorified role player, and has been for years. Varejao is actually an improvement. And isn't Lorenzen Wright supposed to fill in? I thought that's why your brethren Windhorst and Pluto patted Ferry on the head after that guy signed. Besides, over the course of his career, Gasol has normally taken Ilgauskas to the woodshed.
Bottom line is the Lakers played better, and the players around Bryant are probably better, as well. I imagine if Jordan Farmar played for the Cavaliers, the sportswriters in town would proffer his absence as an apology and excuse, too. At least you didn't throw out the silly Delonte West card.
These kinds of games are a blessing for James, because assuming Ferry deluded himself that he doesn't need to make a trade by the trade deadline, a big loss should change Ferry's perception. James is still great, but there are obvious holes that become transparent when James isn't dominating like he usually does. For one, if Gibson, Szczerbiak and Pavlovic aren't hitting their three-point and longer-range shots, they are fairly worthless. That's all they're good for. They might as well bring back Donyell Marshall and Damon Jones to launch them up.
it's really tough to tell how those teams truly match up after that game. i'm not making excuses for the cavs. they deserved to lose. but it looked like the refs were going out of their way to make a point to lebron. to embarrass him on a national stage. the fouls he took were outlandish.
how the cavs reacted to the mistreatment by the refs was poor. if i'm mike brown i am going ballistic. but he stood there doing his best romeo crennel imitation. and lebron continued to play the perimeter game when it obviously wasn't working. he needed to play in the post. yeah, i know, he doesn't like to play in the post. boo f'n hoo lebron. he needs to learn that if he's not going to get the calls he might as well deal the pain in the paint. pau gasol and andrew bynum have the physique of 4 year olds compared to lebron. get down low and pound them. take the fouls. ben wallace didn't have his back so he should have taken it upon himself. that game wasn't going in the w column anyways. i'm using all 6 fouls if i'm lebron.
piss poor game all around for the cavs. no doubt ferry makes a move and gets a big. camby would be a great addition if they could swing it.
Oh, come on. After taking into consideration the 50,000 "crab dribbles" James gets away with in each and every game, he deserves 50,000 poundings just to remotely come close to evening it up. That guy whines about every foul that wasn't called, not to mention all the imaginary fouls that aren't called. And the imaginary fouls far outnumber the actual fouls. Anyway, defensive fouls are like offensive holding penalties, theoretically you can call a foul on somebody on every single play. Whenever any referee is blamed for the Cavaliers losing a game, I gotta roll my eyes. OK, except maybe for that guy who placed a few bets. If he ever makes a heroic comeback, I'll have some minor doubt about the absence of a foul call.
If you want to consistently blame somebody, blame the Cavaliers' "strength and conditioning" coach, Stan Keller. He takes all the credit for Ilgauskas' feet recovery, and maybe deservedly so, but most of the big guys he's trained over the years still couldn't bench press a frozen turkey if their lives depended on it. Flexibility and endurance will only get you so far.
i don't disagree alan. lebron has gotten his share. and that is why the refs let him get his ass kicked. payback time.
i don't blame losses on refs. they are a part of the game. therefore, players need to make adjustments based on the quality of the calls. the cavs made none, so they deserved to lose.
I just realized I left the 's' off of Kellers' name. I couldn't care less, but just in case his parents read this blog, I see no reason they should be disrespected.
It would be interesting to see a series with the Lakers and hopefully we will. The Cavs lost last night because they didn't pass well like they were a month or two ago. Outside the Boston game they haven't played their best in quite a while.
In a series I'd put LeBron on Gasol a lot. He can shut Gasol down I'll bet and the Lakers probably aren't as good when Kobe's carrying all of the scoring load.