Game 31 | Cavs at Lakers | Dec 25th, 2009 | 5:00pm EST

[DEEP3CL]

Well OUTLAW, the Lakers were one of the top teams in the NBA in defending the 3 line. Cavs just made outside shot with some high efficiency , nothing you can do about it.

To answer L&H theory on our interior defense.....the Lakers play a system where they try to stop penetration at all cost. What you saw with our bigs was them shading too far up on help side, leaving the weak side exposed because they can't rotate back.

But like Dub said don't let that game sway you into believing we can't defend .

[DubaLakers]

“It was about sending a message to ourselves and seeing how we match up with the best team in the NBA at this point. It was a good road win for us. I think it ranks up there, just because of the caliber of the team and the caliber of the players they have.” :LBJ

At least LBJ gets it.

[L&H_05]

^^ Guy, nobody is suggesting the Lakers are a bad team.. In fact, I think we all agree they will represent the west if they remain healthy..

However, there's a significant issue I have seen within the Lakers that has the opportunity to not only really hurt them in the long run, but ultimately could prevent them from winning the championship this year against teams with certain personnel..

It has nothing to do with the talent.. Though, outside of Odom the bench is garbage.. Nonetheless, the Lakers are a great team...

No need to sweat it...

[DubaLakers]

I will admit yesterday LeBron looked different than I've seen him before...he looked focused, in the moment, and no longer intimidated by the LAL, Kobe or the marque matchup. In the East it's a regular occurance cuz he faces those teams all the time, but vs the LAL specifically he looked really comfortable.

Be careful, you've been warned previously, but calling LeBron anything other than LeBron is still baiting.

[TheOUTLAW]

I believe the Cavs were more aggressive and more focused, but the officiating was awful. The Cavs were getting the majority of the calls in their favor. The way it was officiated it felt like a home game for the Cavs against the Wolves. It was very strange to see that in L.A. Officiating in the NBA is down right brutal at times.

BTW, this is why I don't consider CFO a Cavs fan.

[Gordon Bombay]

nice win by the fellas yesterday. it'll be interesting in the next meeting to see if we have solved our matchup problems from last year or if this was just a matter of us wanting it more than them. either way it's nice to see us beating elites on their own floor and doing it convincingly in the process...something that was absent from last year

[JonFromVA]

Again you are taking so much from this garbage game.

Obviously from the reaction of the media, the LA fans at the game, the T-fouls the Lakers committed, the way Kobe tried to play shut down D on LeBron during garbage time (wtf?) and the multiple cheap shots it was not just a "garbage" game.

You could clearly tell if you watched the game the LAL had no energy or effort,

The Lakers sure seemed to have plenty of energy at the end of the 2nd quarter when the Cavs went small. Funny how that all went away when we started the 3rd quarter with Shaq and Z.

CLE walked in unlike any game I've ever seen CLE play the LAL before and Lebron wasn't intimidated for once today vs us.

I take it you didn't see the Cavs play the Lakers before last year?