Cleveland Cavaliers @ LA Lakers--Game Thread (1/19/09)

This game wasn't exactly the best measuring stick. The Cavs were missing 2 starters (Ilgauskas and West), and Z would've made a huge difference in not allowing the Lakers frontcourt to dominate as they did. Ilgauskas is incredibly important to the team, no doubt about it, on both sides of the floor.

 

LOL, I can't believe there's seriously people here that think this one game somehow proved something about Lebron. Give me a break.

 

look at like the first 3-4 seconds of the video you posted ariza's forehead hits lebron....

I didnt say it was a bad play, it was a clean steal and incidental contact on the play.

the OP was inferring that lebron faked being hit because he got the ball stolen to which I said that wasn't true

 

Didn't look like much of a hit, if you look at the video closely, he doesn't grab his eye till he knows the ball is gone. haha

 

if nothing else, it does prove how VASTLY overrated Clevelands team defense is.

 

really? west is a starter? so Mo william is the bench then?

 

No it isn't. Cleveland plays the best defense in the NBA. They have 2 starters out and didn't play their best game.

 

Pavlovic goes to the bench.

 

Updated LeBron vs Kobe H2H: http://www.basketball-reference.com/fc/h2h_finder.cgi?request=1&p1=jamesle01&p2=bryanko01

LeBron is still winning this battle in almost every single category. LeBron also just turned 24. He is going to get better and better. Kobe is at his peak. And you can't attribute LeBron winning this battle to him having a better supporting cast. Until this season, the Cavs were LeBron and a bunch of scrubs for the most part.

 

^ Kobe played minimal minutes in 2 games because he had injuries in the game that bothered him for the rest of hte year , thank God 3rd time (last night) he ended up staying and it looks like its not serious. I don't think guys like Drew Gooden, Anderson Varejao or Z are scrubs, they are bangers, they have length and they play physical.

 

more like kobe played with a bunch of scrubs until last season when they got gasol

 

It was a well known fact that LeBron had one of the worst supporting casts in the league before this season. Every team has some good players, including cellar dwellars. It's all relative and the Cavs had a relatively bad supporting cast around LeBron for most of his career. They didn't even have a decent PG until this season and LeBron never had even one teammate in the mold of Caron Butler or Lamar Odom other than Boozer, who bolted after LeBron's rookie season.

 

a much more established fact is that LBJ played in the Eastern Conference, where the competition is weak.

whereas, in th Western Conference, it has been cut-throat competetive.

The relative competivtiveness of their opponents should be considered.

 

Butler wasn't even half the player he is now, back then in 04/05. The team was in 7th place for most of the year in the West until their injuries started piling up and they eventually missed out.

 

They weren't even mathematically eliminated until April 6th (pretty late in the season mind you),

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/recap?gid=2005040521

if the young team's injuries didn't pile up and the coach didn't quit on the team, they would've definitely made the playoffs

 

Is that why they were able to take 3 of the celtics even as Lebron was shooting 35% average? Which team in history could take a 65+ win team to 7 games with their star shooting 35%? If they were so bad, how could they do it?

The cavs win because of their defense. That's been their MO for years. Put on Lebron on a bad defensive team and he sinks out of the playoffs.