LeBron And Cavaliers Hold Off Kobe And The Lakers, 93-87

The other way would be to express legitimate concern that the Cavaliers might indeed have their number. C.A. Clark from SB Nation’s Lakers blog Silver Screen and Roll chose option number two.

The biggest problem? Cleveland’s defense shut down the Lakers’ offense yet again. After a first-quarter explosion, the Lakers scored just 60 points in the final three quarters. Clark has run out of ideas to jumpstart the offense.

Missed the Lakers-Cavaliers game the first time? Watch the highlights to get some idea of how intense and tight this game was.

For more on this super mage epic NBA game, check out our Cavs blog, Fear The Sword, and our Lakers blog, Silver Screen and Roll.

Cleveland, OH (Sports Network) - LeBron James’ layup in traffic with 40.5 seconds to play gave Cleveland the lead for good, as the Cavaliers rallied past the Los Angeles Lakers, 93-87, at Quicken Loans Arena.

Full recap coming shortly, but we just witnessed the following happen in the last 2:04.

-Lakers tie the game.

-Pau Gasol misses two gimmie layups

-LeBron James goes one on five for a breathtaking layup to give Cleveland the lead for good.

-Gasol gets fouled, missed two straight free throws despite being an 86% free throw shooter

-LeBron makes one of two free throws, but Anderson Varejao, despite being double-teamed on the rebound, gets fouled by Ron Artest.

Cleveland’s last few possessions have ended the same way: LeBron James, isolated at the top of the key, dribbling the shot clock out before finally shooting a contested jumper. Tonight, he’s hitting his twos and missing his threes, but you certainly wish the Cavaliers would do something a little more … creative.

Anyway, Cleveland took a seven-point lead, but the Lakers cut it to four on a Ron Artest three and now have the ball with two minutes left. Here. We. Go.

LeBron James just hit a three to give the Cavs an 83-80 lead with 5:23 left, but the noteworthy item here is that Phil Jackson has held Kobe Bryant out for the majority of the fourth quarter. He just called a timeout to get Kobe back into the game, but it’ll be interesting to see what type of effect that decision will have down the stretch.

Whatever happens, this has been fun, even if Kobe and LeBron are shooting a lot.

To be fair, there’s never really a good time to have technical difficulties (unless Reggie Miller is misinterpreting a Marv Albert joke ... sorry Reggie). And I guess it would have been worse if it was at the very end of the game.

But at the beginning of the fourth quarter, TNT’s video feed went out for a couple minutes, which forced viewers to look at this image instead of live action.

You can kind of sense a change in the momentum of the game. Down by double-digits in the first quarter, the Cavaliers have fought back and now have a 63-61 lead late in the third quarter.

Also, Kobe Bryant is now guarding LeBron James. When Kobe gets switched onto the other teams’ top player, you know it’s getting serious.

Speaking of Craig Sager, his ... ahem ... attire needs no introduction. I could post a bunch of pictures of Sager’s past suits, but I prefer that you guys not vomit while reading SB Nation.

I actually didn’t think his suit tonight was so bad, by Sager’s standards. But Phil Jackson obviously did, judging by the expression on his face in this picture.

In case you didn’t know that, Craig Sager kindly devoted his first-quarter report to Kobe’s finger injury and all the amazing things the Lakers are doing to fix it up. Again, we’re talking about an injury Kobe Bryant has supposedly suffered through for at least a year, and yet, he still keeps on playing as if nothing is wrong. So why is this news again?

Oh, that’s right, because he’s Kobe Bryant, and we must know that he’s somehow more than just a transcendent basketball player. He’s also a tough basketball player with a ferocious will to never take a game off, even if it means he’s breaking the offense to shoot tons of shots against the New Jersey Nets. I don’t doubt that Kobe is hurting, but everyone’s hurting around this time. We’ve never heard of any of LeBron James’ aches and bruises, yet we keep hearing about Kobe’s finger. Why?

What’s a “Posey?” Sharp explains:

This of course begs the question – which players on the Lakers and Cavaliers are “Poseys?” Here’s a few candidates:

Alright, so who’s pumped for arguably the biggest game of the season (outside of the Christmas Day game, of course)? THIS GUY!

Okay, I’m going to try to chill. But seriously, this game should be fun, even with Cleveland missing Mo Williams. They’re always tough at home (39-2 last year, and that last loss was when they rested their starters), so they’ll come out strong even if undermanned. Who did their one other loss come against? You guessed it, the Lakers. This should be fun.

It’s nothing special, but in anticipation of tonight’s uber-hyped matchup between Kobe and Lebron, the media will jump at any morsel handed down from either superstar. With that in mind, you can be sure you’ll hear about Kobe’s quick thoughts today at shootaround. According to Brian Windhorst of the Cleveland Plain-Dealer, Kobe dismissed the Cavs-Lakers matchup, saying it’s “Not a rivalry,” and said that if Lebron entered the dunk contest, he be a “Close second to Shannon Brown.”

Kobe may be offering subversive jabs at the Cavs and Lebron this afternoon, but something tells me that behind closed doors, he’d be a whole lot more entertaining. If only Jamie Foxx were behind those closed doors…

We all know about the stars (LeBron James, Kobe Bryant), the sidekicks (Pau Gasol, Shaquille O’Neal, Mo Williams before his injury, Ron Artest) and the coaches (Phil Jackson, Mike Brown). Looking for something different to talk about?

Look no further than bench play. Those minutes in the second quarter and the end of the third quarter/beginning of the fourth quarter matter just as much as those at the end of the game. We may forget about them, but they’re essential. Who has the advantage?

So much for both teams being healthy for tonight’s game. Brian Windhorst of the Cleveland Plain-Dealer is reporting that all-star guard Mo Williams will miss tonight’s game (and possibly more) with a sprained shoulder.

Yikes, that’s a big loss. Williams killed the Lakers when these two teams played on Christmas Day, scoring 28 points on just 13 shots. He tore up Derek Fisher that game, then took his heart out and tore him up again. The Lakers, normally a great defensive team, had no shot guarding him.

It’s the biggest regular-season game IN THE HISTORY OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION. It’s bigger than the World Cup, the Super Bowl, the Masters and the World Series combined! The ancient Ceasers of Rome would ride out to the amphitheater to see this game live if they could!

Join us throughout the day for previews, pre-game analysis and injury updates, and then come back at 8 p.m. Eastern for updates throughout the game. You’ll see LeBron, Kobe, Shaq, Gasol, Odom and, yes, Bill Walton’s son himself do battle on the hardwood floor.