Overview: The Cavaliers were able to dominate the Lakers the entire way through on Christmas day, getting 54 combined points out of LeBron James and Mo Williams and holding the Lakers’ three best frontcourt players to 21 combined points.
Cavs-Related Bullets:
-I mean, whoa. I can honestly say I was not expecting that to happen. That performance was one of the Cavs’ most dominant 48 minutes against any team this season, period, and it happened against the best team the Cavs have faced so far, on the road. You can probably see this if you go back through today’s marathon dime chat, but what was happening didn’t fully sink in until the final buzzer had sounded.
-Every Cavs fan already knew it, and now the world does too: as Mo Williams goes, so go the Cavaliers. And on Friday, when Mo Williams got a season-high 28 points on only 13 shots (True Shooting % of 78% on the night), the league’s best defense had few answers for the Cavs, even with LeBron James playing at a merely human level for most of the game.
-Mo was draining jumpers from just about everywhere on Friday night, with half of his eight field goals coming off assists and the other half coming off his own dribble. He made a PUJIT three (Pull-up Jumper In Transition), drained fadeaways over Derek Fisher from the right side of the floor, drained a corner three off the corner dive play in the fourth quarter, drained shots off the curl, just about everything. And seven assists for Mo to boot, with six of his assists leading to baskets at the rim and the seventh leading to a three.
-By the way, 28 matches Mo’s season high. The other time Mo scored 28 this season was on the road against Orlando, the Cavs’ second-best win of the season. As much as people will focus on the new faces making a difference against the elite, a big factor in the Laker and Orlando games this season has been a guy from last year stepping up in a major way.
-That being said, let’s hear it for the new faces. First off, Shaq. The party line on Shaq is that his poor play in most regular season games doesn’t reflect on whether he’s doing the job he was brought into do, which is help the Cavs match up with the Celtics, Magic, and Lakers. Now, I happen to think that’s the most insane thing I’ve ever heard in my life, because there’s not a lot of precedent for one of five starters on a championship-level team to only truly be effective against a few teams, and be much better against great teams than mediocre ones. That’s just me.
But feed me a piece of bread and call me a duck, because I’ll be darned if that crazy party line didn’t improve its record to 2-0 on Friday night. The big fella was fantastic. He shut down the paint, made each of his five fouls count, bothered Bynum and Gasol on post-ups and didn’t give Kobe easy layups, didn’t turn the ball over or throw up bad shots, went 5-8 from the floor, and helped the Cavs get into the bonus in the final period.
My positive note would be that all five of Shaq’s made field goals came off of assists, which is hugely promising. As I’ve noted, Shaq’s main offensive problem hasn’t had anything to do with him “clogging the lane” when LeBron has the ball, but simply not being that effective when the ball gets tossed to him on the blocks. On Friday, he was moving and looking to get dunks or alley-oops, making the catch and going up strong before he could get stripped or put on the line.
Also, Shaq came in with the second unit to start the second quarter with LeBron sitting on the bench, which is something I’ve wanted ever since the Shaq deal went through, and the 2nd unit had its best stretch of the season. The offense got a little stagnant force-feeding Shaq a few times and the Lakers were able to get some steals and deflections by jumping the feed into the post, but that’s more a lack of creativity from the coaching staff than anything Shaq was doing wrong. The Big Fella was a huge factor in the win. It’s Christmas, and I’m rarely this happy to be wrong. And I’m wrong a lot. Even the Giant Lineup of Doom and Ulcers worked like gangbusters in this one.
-Anthony Parker missed all four of his threes, but had a phenomenal game defensively, bothering Kobe Bryant all game long and even blocking two of his shots. Kobe missed a lot of mid-range shots he usually makes (0-5 from 10-15 feet, a bread-and-butter range for Kobe), and definitely got frustrated going to the rim and not getting a whistle, taking 15 shots at the rim but only making seven of them. He made Kobe work for everything, which is all you can ask of anyone who draws that defensive assignment.
-Jamario Moon, you are a mysterious bucket of jumping and magic. When Mike Brown put Jamario on Kobe for the last possession of the first quarter, I somehow knew Kobe would eat him alive, and he did. When Jamario got subbed in for Anderson Varejao to close out the second quarter, I nearly had an embolism, and the Cavs gave up nine points in just under two minutes.
But offensively, he ran the break for a beautiful dunk in transition and skied for two amazing alley-oop finishes, and somehow got 7 points on the four long jumpers he took, with all three of his made jumpers coming in the fourth quarter and all three being of the “Oh God, why would you…YES!” variety.
-LeBron was also present, putting in a fairly standard effort that would have been a paradigm of efficiency if not for too many silly long jumpers (8 points on 12 jumpers outside of 15 feet), and turnovers (seven of them, with most being of the absolute brain-fart variety.)
There were also some missed free throws, but the meat and potatoes of LeBron’s game were definitely solid. He went to the hole judiciously and finished when he got there instead of forcing drives, going 5 of 6 at the basket, with four of those buckets coming off of assists and the other one coming in transition. He made the pass when it was there and ended up with 9 assists, and overall did a wonderful job managing the game without ever really needing to take it over.
From the “Shots that I love” file:
-MY FAVORITE PLAY EVER in the first quarter, with Mo going left-to-right along the baseline and finding LeBron cutting the other way for the slam. I knew then it was going to be a good game, beneath my layers of psychosis.
-LeBron, in transition, posts up early, pushes Ron Artest all the way under the basket and seals him, gets the pass at the front of the rim, and is close enough to lay it in with his left hand. THAT’S IT. That’s the ugly post game that I want. Early in transition, get close enough to use either shoulder, bully your way deep, make the easy layup. And if LeBron could push Ron Artest that deep, he can push any wing player in the league that deep.
-Later, LeBron with the “prettier” post move, draining a 10-foot modified jump hook over his left shoulder. He’s been trying to add that all year, and if he gets it down, watch out. Still takes it about a dribble too far out for my liking, but when it works it works.
-In transition, Delonte West gets the pass, sees Kobe sag way down to cut off the drive to Delonte’s strong side (in all honesty, great use of the scouting report by Kobe there), and calmly pulls up to drain his second three-point shot of the season. Delonte with his outside stroke back is a major weapon.
(Very efficient game all-around for Delonte, in fact, making all three of his shots, two of them off the bounce, getting four assists, and tossing in three steals and a block defensively.)
-And finally, the up-and-under move of Anderson Varejao claims yet another victim. I don’t know if opposing bigs are ever going to catch onto that shot.
-7 blocks overall for the Cavs tonight; absolutely crushing interior defense.
-The only caveat to this victory, other than that the refs are going to dominate much of the coverage of this game thanks to the techs and the foam finger incident, is that the honeymoon on JJ Hickson is pretty much over. As Shaq seems to step his game up against the elite, Hickson pretty clearly doesn’t belong on the floor against them at this point, and was a -9 in his 10 minutes before getting the quick hook.
-Hey, remember how I said that finishing at the rim would be a key for the Cavs? They ended up shooting 79.2% at the rim tonight, which is absolutely off the charts, and had 42 shots at the rim or from behind the arc to 28 shots from midrange, which is a good thing.
-Defensively, everything went according to plan for the Cavs. Kobe ended up being a volume shooter, which is the poison you want to pick with Kobe, Artest and Fisher got more field goal attempts than Bynum and Gasol, and Vujacic had more shots than any other Laker bench player, including Lamar Odom. Since the Lakers are so top-heavy in terms of talent, keeping Odom, Gasol, and Bynum from getting opportunities was a huge factor in the Cavs’ victory.
Bullets of Randomness:
Seriously, give Kobe Bryant a lot of credit. He’s got a broken finger, tweaked his knee in the Lakers’ last game, plays 45 minutes, almost gets a triple-double trying to do everything, and puts on a full-on Delonte West “screw the scoreboard, this game is not over until I allow it to be” show of effort in garbage time. Absolutely amazing competitive drive.
LeBron responded to the challenge, and Kobe did take 32 shots and let the refs affect his game a bit, but you’ve just got to admire that kind of drive in a player so talented, regardless of what side of the “debate” you’re on. At the end of the day, I don’t want to be the kind of fan that doesn’t appreciate that kind of a show of effort from anybody, even after Kobe’s little “bump” on Mo Williams earlier in the game.
Alright folks, not a bad Christmas to be a Cavs fan. Have a good weekend and I’ll see you guys later.
Wow What a game… I loved every second of it
Lakers fan here, just wanting to see your take on the game but I have to say I enjoyed reading your analysis and it was good to see the respect you gave to Kobe because quite frankly without his effort tonight the Lakers probably lose by 40. The Cavs defense made Kobe a volume shooter because the inside presence of the big men made the Lakers big men become rattled (almost as dominant as the butt kicking the Celtics gave them in the Finals 2 years ago.) Quite frankly I think the Lakers offense looked similar to how the Cavs offense was in the playoffs last year, Players standing around watching and expecting your superstar to bail you out. On another note I have to say Artest played solid defense on Lebron before fouling out in the 4th, 6-15 shooting for 19 points. One final note I love Derek Fisher but the man has gotten so old and I would KILL to have Mo Williams be the point guard in our triangle offense because really all you have to do as the PG is knock down wide open shots and he’s a damn assassin. I’ll be at the game in Cleveland at the end of Jan. hopefully there will be a better TEAM showing. Happy Holidays
I watched this game with a Lakers fan, and boy am I glad we whooped ‘em like we did. When Lebron missed that dunk (what was with that?!) he was talking, but he shut up soon enough.
I don’t know that I’ve ever seen a team this good lose their composure this badly. Wow. That’s an embarassment. I don’t feel quite so bad now for being a witness to the infamous Beer Bottle Game in Cleveland, and I would’ve never expected that to happen in LA.
I’ve agreed with Krolik’s assessment of Shaq for a while, so I like that he came in with the second unit. I also loved how he forced two quick fouls on Bynum, but where was that for the rest of the game? He made it look so easy, then it got abandoned.
glad to see y’all are coming around on shaq. hey, Z’s making me eat my words about him lately too. we’re all wrong. a LOT.
anyway, let me just take the “other side” of kobe and his play today. you say it’s competitive spirit and to “give him credit.” well, when there’s 3 minutes in the game and your team is down 20 and you’re acting like it’s one possession game, that is classic gym douchbagery. i’m sorry, but we’ve ALL been in HS games or YMCA games where a guy like that does that sorta bush league “hustle” crap. it’s the LARGEST expression of ego EVER and that fits the bill for kobe, yes? even his supporters would concede he has a giant ego. anyway, no star, not even petulant ones like MJ and bird, would have done this, IMO.
oh, and just imagine if mike brown played LBJ 45 minutes in a game we lost by 15. and kept him out there with less than 3 minutes left and the cavs down 20! he might be fired the next day. he certainly would be crucified by fans and media alike. a rightly so! look, i know phil gets a bit of a pass because of his record but stupid is as stupid does. period. ASININE move by jackson and kobe. i mean, think of risk assessment here. ZERO gain and a whole HELLUVA lot to lose keeping him out there. dumb, dumb, dumb…
KJ, so what do you think of Kobe being out there with 3 minutes to go?
I think Kobe let the refs/blocks get in his head A LOT. He did most of his damage early, was never really a factor, and was not able to calm his team down, in fact I’d say he was the catalyst for much of their whining. Marc Jackson used a reach in foul to show how Kobe separates himself from the pack. I think that is such a load of crap. That over-agressive overplaying Defense worked for 3 minutes in the 2nd quarter. The Cavs offense picked it apart in the 3rd and when you’re down 20 with 4 minutes to go, fouling in that situation is just plain STUPID. Basically, Kobe wanted to “look” like he could guard LeBron when the game was out of hand. I’m glad LeBron didn’t try to “take on” Kobe, and just kept doing what he was doing, picking apart the Laker defense.
Kobe is an unbelievable talent, but the way he allows his emotions to affect him is childish – LeBron painted quite a contrast when he called his team over and told them to keep their composure, play the game, and let the other stuff work itself out.
I’m wondering if the league will say anything about Kobe’s cheap shot? Deserves a T, I would think. The replays are very clear.
kings game maybe the toughest on this road trip..
Go kings…
Ok, here you go. What I posted in the other thread with a few additions:
This game does reveal some chinks in the Lakers armor. The Lakers biggest advantage, their post players, were neutralized by the Cavs bigs. We saw this two years ago in the finals, and again today: the Lakers’ big men have problems with physical play. It’s why LA lost to Boston, why they almost lost to Denver, and why they lost today. It doesn’t even matter if the opposing bigs are “good.” If they are willing to get in your face and foul you hard, the way Shaq is, then they will shrink away from the contact. What makes this even better for Cavs fans is the fact that Leon Powe, a Laker killer in the finals, will be joining the team in a couple of months to take the place of JJ, who, as John pointed out, is clearly not capable of handling the elites just yet.
Ron Artest, who was brought in to match up with the stronger small forwards (i.e. Melo and LeBron), had some major problems with LeBron. Letting LeBron past him is not surprising, Bron is too quick. However, LeBron also overpowered Artest on several occassions, and that IS a problem. Artest’s one advantage in the past was that he had the strength to keep LeBron from overpowering him. Not anymore.
Another problem is the Cavs bench DOMINATED LA’s bench. Everyone knew their bench wasn’t that great to begin with, outside Odom. Take away the 8 garbage points from Sasha and Powell, and the Lakers got a whopping 9 bench points. The Cavs proved to be much deeper, and they didn’t even need Gibson, who has been the team’s best three point shooter, and one of the best in the league.
I still think the Lakers are the best in the West, and likely the league, but we could be seeing the same thing we saw last year with CLE and ORL. The Cavs were better against everyone, but ORL had the matchup advantage. Im not saying we will see Cavs/Lakers in the finals, but the Cavs have to like their chances if they can get out of the brutal east.
the thing that made me happiest about watching today’s game (err technically yesterday now i guess) was the way that we rarely saw lebron go into iso mode. we really looked like a TEAM out there today with all that ball movement: i swear we had like 10 dunks off assists (shaq had like 5 by himself). also, van gundy(i think?) commented on how this was smart b/c it forced artest, perhaps the best iso defender against lebron, into guarding lebron off-the-ball which he couldn’t do quite as well. seriously, i don’t think anyone can guard off-ball lebron. so i LOVED seeing that.
i share your love for the cutting lebron feed off of mo penetration. they run that play almost every game and i get so excited knowing that a freakin tomahawk is coming!
Thanks for the great win, and a gift of an entire game of off-ball movement for your (more obsessive) fans, Cavs. Seriously, that’s the first game I don’t remember watching and thinking the DVR got stuck for 8-10 seconds of each shot clock. Even Shaq was showing movement — hence, multiple dunks, which are the kinds of shots I love to see him getting (especially on Christmas Day).
Great game all-around! Gotta give credit to Jamario and AP too. Jamario was all over the rim and both of those guys made Kobe work!
Worth noting just how entertaining a Cavs/Lakers Finals really would be.
Just watching Bron and Artest off-the-ball is more interesting than watching the action of an average NBA game.
Awesome game. We cavs fans tend to freak out when they lose to crappy teams(Memphis) but the cavs have played more road games than any team in the NBA and more games overall than the “elite” and they’re still doing extremely well. Looks like the team will be rolling after their december-january tests into a more favorable rest of the regular season. GO CAVS
also, AP’s defense on Kobe was a sight to behold, especially that one block from behind
Im not surprised to read how the Bitch Ass Laker fans make excuses after the Lakers where annihilated by a far superior team in the Cavs. I throughly enjoyed watching the Punk Ass Lakers cry and whined about not getting calls hell if you ask the Lakers and their Punk Ass fans Fisher and his Punk Ass teammates have never committed a foul. The Lakers are the worst team in the league primarily because of the dismissive attitudes of their coach and the ring leader Punk Ass Kobe. The Lakers have this phony misplaced bravado as if the rest of the NBA is suppose to lay out the red carpet and crown them Champs. The NBA schedule makers are definitely trying to just walk the Lakers into the playoffs they can not be serious with 21 of the first 30 games at home against cup cakes. As soon as the Lakers face competition they get that ass tapped cause they are inferior. Denver beat down by 26, Dallas beat down by 16, Cavs destruction by 15 which should’ve been by 30 if the Cavs would’ve played smarter in the last 4 mins. I was so excited yesterday to see the Laker fans display the attitude of their Punk Ass team even they know now that Gasol, Bynum, and Odom are soft as “Wet Toilet Tissue” LMAO! The Lakers were truly exposed yesterday even if their Punk Ass fans are in denial the rest of the league knows that the Lakers are garbage and the only reason they won last year was because of an inexperienced and soft Magic team!
Great win. Over the years… the Lakers ALWAYS seem to get the calls esp in the Staples center. Last night, Kobe & Jackson the two greatest benefactors in the NBA during the last decade did not receive the charity stripe bailout. Perhaps James is now the face of the league creating the need for an evenly called (imagine that) game. Regardless, the Fakers displayed weakness at PG (starters and bench) and a softness in the paint (no suprise since Gasol is a Euro). Mo Williams exploited that and active bodies in the paint confused and frustrated Faker bigs. Great win.
Black Pearl with one of the worst comments, ever. Good job.
Remember when Kobe said A.P. would be the most impactful signing of the offseason? I guess he knew something that we didn’t. A.P. has looked so old at times this season, but man did he do a masterful job on Kobe.
Kobe’s little bump would have got his ass beat at any pickup game I’ve ever played. A true show of his classlessness. But the kid can play. No doubt about that.
LeBron is the face of the league. Now and for the next decade. Hopefully in Cleveland, please God. Viva la Cavs!
I have to make another post because I am going over the game again, and there is something I have to mention….
Is it just me, or did it look like Kobe was the young kid trying to prove himself while LeBron was the grizzled vet who knew how to get the job done? LeBron didn’t have his best game, but when it came to all the intangibles, LeBron was far and away superior last night. He was hustling all over the place, keeping his team’s composure (seeing the replay of Bron calling the guys over and huddling up to tell them to just play their game was kind of stunning. Not because he did it, but because when you see the Lakers at the same time, they are just kind of standing around. Fisher is trying to say something, but Kobe isn’t even bothering to look at any of them), and TRUSTING in his teammates.
Meanwhile, once the Lakers got down double-digits, and Kobe realized his bigs refused to bang down low, he took it upon himself to try and get the Lakers back in it. They went into Kobe dominant mode, something Cavs fans have seen far too often with LeBron this year. 32 shots! Are you kidding me? The rest of the starting 5 for LA put up 35 shots.
It was just downright amazing to see Kobe CONSTANTLY bitching at the refs. I know people talk about LeBron complaining after a play, but you know what? If he feels he didn’t get a foul call he should have gotten, he’ll yell once at the ref, then run back down the floor on D. Kobe wouldn’t get a call, then he would be yelling at the ref all the way up the floor. Then, he would keep yelling at the ref when he got the ball back.
That’s really all I wanted to point out. When things got heated, LeBron stepped in, said his piece to Fisher, then went back to focusing on the task at hand. Kobe continued to gripe all the way up until the final horn and lost complete control of his team.
agreed, colin, but really, that’s IS kobe. always has been; always will be.
let me say this again, the magic fluked their way in to the finals (not unlike the cavs did against the spurs, though the cavs beating detroit they way they did was far more impressive than the magic winning a series against the cavs were the avg. margin of victory was 2 points) and it was a cakewalk for the lakers because the magic were not physical and their 3-point pct came back to earth. but off of that title, everyone went on about how kobe changed, blah, blah, blah. kobe has not changed one iota. and the lakers still have lots of trouble with physical teams. celtics, nuggets, rockets and now, the cavs.
i would also argue that the schedule makers did the lakers no favor by giving them such a favorable schedule to begin the season. it only made them over-confident and their rude awakening is now beginning. contrast that with the cavs early season schedule. oh, and we get ANOTHER physical front court player in powe back in a few weeks. ha!