Cleveland 102, Los Angeles 87

This year’s slate of Christmas day games included probably the most hyped up game of the entire season: the Cleveland Cavaliers against the Los Angeles Lakers, Lebron James meets Kobe Bryant. Puppet-a-puppet. While I try to avoid drawing conclusions from single, meaningless regular season games, I was looking forward to this one, since direct games between title contenders tend to come with playoff-like intensity, with both sides trying to pull out a “statement” win. Also, the Cavaliers and Lakers only play each other twice each season, and I wanted to see how the two teams matched up, after last years seemingly dominant Cavaliers team fell to the Magic due to unfavorable matchups. Sadly, the game wasn’t nearly as close as the early predictions suggested, but here are some things I noticed that could be big in the future:

The Cavaliers dominated this game, hounding the Lakers into 36.5% shooting, and getting into their heads. Once a few calls went against the Lakers’ way (my take on that: Shaq probably got away with blocking foul or two, but all in all, the Lakers got calls in the first half, the Cavs in the second, and the officiating as a whole seemed fairly even), the Lakers lost their heads, leading to technicals on Kobe, Fisher, Odom (twice), the bench (not subbing in for Odom after he was ejected), and the fans (throwing foam fingers on the court. I continue to be amazed by the Staples Center crowd. Kudos to them for actually showing emotiong that doesn't revolve around tacos, but throwing foam fingers? Was it "6 year olds get in for free night"?).

For the Cavaliers, this game should push them back into the public’s short list of contenders. I’m not really sure why they weren’t there earlier, but no harm done. After struggling early on this season with adjusting to the big Shaquasition and Delonte West’s personal issues, the Cavs are rolling, with an impressive 3-1 road trip. What impressed me most was the versatility displayed during this trip: after beating the Phoenix Suns with a monsterous 4th quarter behind a small ball line up that Bill Simmons called “poop-in-your-pants-scary" (Lebron at the 4, Anderson Varejao at center), the Cavs beat the Lakers going big, with Shaquille O’neal and Zydrunas Ilgauskas playing together extensive minutes despite some pretty bad previous results. The Cavs proved that they can deal with LA’s size, pretty much shutting down Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol. Shaq and Z are still pretty terrible at defending the pick and roll, but specifically against LA, which doesn’t run the pick and roll as much, the pairing works. Also, Anthony Parker did a great job on Kobe - forcing tough shots, contesting jumpers, recording 2 blocks and altering several more by my eyes. Parker was brought in to make 3s and take the pressure of Lebron at defending perimeter guys: so far he has done only the former, but defending Kobe well is a great place to start.

As for offense, I know I’m not the first one to say this, but as Mo Williams goes, so does Cleveland. Mo torched Derek Fisher for 28 points on 8 for 13 shooting, combining long range bombs with penetration, and even some posting up. Anthony Parker had a bad shooting night – 1 for 5, missed all 4 of his attempts beyond the arc – but Jamario Moon and Delonte West filled in, each making a 3 and Moon hitting 2 more long range jumpers and finishing with 13 points on 7 shots. The Cavs shot 54% from the floor, with Lebron again proving why he is so great – struggling with his shot (27 points on a decent 9 for 19 shooting night, yet an atrocious 3 for 12 on jumpers from 16 feet and out), he played second fiddle to Williams, finding him for open jumpers doing his damage inside (including two absolutely gorgeous post moves). Seven turnovers for Lebron, but two of them were charges, and one came when the game was over, so while that isn’t a good number by any standards, I wouldn’t.

Truly, a great all-around game for the Cavs, who look downright scary after three impressive wins (the Suns, Kings and Lakers are a combined 37-9 at home this season, with three of those losses coming against the Cavs in the past week). The only downside I could see in this game was how lost J.J. Hickson seemed on defense, posting a team low +/- of -9. He played well in his first few games in the starting line-up, but the momentum caused by the move seems to have passed, and while I do think the Cavs could earn a valuable playoff contributor by giving him minutes, it would be hard to justify keeping him on the floor if he keeps playing like this.

Cut to the Lakers: hard to tell how much credit should be given to the Cavs’ defense and how much to the Lakers’ poor offense, since even against the best of the best, the defending champs should shoot more than 36% from the field. I would credit both: the Cavs did a great job stifling the Laker big men (Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol are shooting 57% and 53% shooting, respectively, yet shot a combined 6 for 16), and yet not many nights will you see Kobe Bryant shoot only 11 for 32 from the floor. Bryant, in particular, had a very bad offensive game: despite his impressive box score (35 points, 9 rebounds, 8 assists), he forced bad shots, missed many of the midrange jumpers that he usually lives on, and looked to me like he was pretty tired in the second half (more on that later). Kobe supporters would say that he had to take the extra shot attempts, with Bynum and Gasol shooting so poorly, but against a team with weak post defenders (of Cleveland’s four big men, only Shaq can truly defend a strong post presence one-on-one), those two have got to get the ball more. The Lakers can’t win a game with Kobe taking twice as many shots as his starting frontcourt, under any circumstances.

The Lakers as a whole played a pretty bad game offensively – only Ron Artest gave them a good game, with 13 points – but to be honest, except for Kobe’s mid range game, I didn’t really see them miss any shots that they usually make, except maybe Artest’s breakaway layups (then again, he misses those a lot). However, don’t make the mistake of dismissing this as a game that the Lakers just decided to let go – Kobe clearly wanted this game very badly, so much that he was pushing and hounding Lebron on defense late in the 4th quarter, even though the game was pretty much over. Perhaps this was the reason that he played way too much in this game, getting his first rest only midway through the 4th and playing a game high 45 minutes. I get that this is a big game, and that Kobe is a fierce competitor, but he is 31, and those knees aren’t getting any younger. In a December game, he shouldn’t top 40.

Then again, there is a good reason for Kobe’s high minutes: the Laker bench is terrible. This is a major concern going forward. The disparity between L.A.’s starting five (probably best in the league, though Boston and Orlando are in the discussion) and the bench is enourmous: after Lamar Odom, who is averaging a career low 8.5 points per game, the Lakers truly have no help from their second unit. Sasha Vujacic is a shell of the shell he was last year, Luke Walton is injured and wasn’t all that much to begin with, and Josh Powell and DJ Mbenga really aren’t all that. All that remains is the point guard combo of Shannon Brown and Jordan Farmar, but Brown is good mainly for highlight plays and energy spurts, and Farmar clearly doesn’t mesh well with Phil Jackson and should be moved for his own good. L.A.’s main six contributors are good enough to do it alone on most nights, especially in the playoffs when rotations shorten, but seeing how deep other contenders are, the Lakers need to find somebody who can be a spark off the bench.

All in all, this game teaches us more about Cleveland than about the Lakers – mainly, that Shaq works against the big teams, that they can still defend with the best of them, and that Mo can show up for big games after last postseason’s collapse. However, with L.A. now dropping to only 6-5 against teams with a winning record, it should be asked if they aren’t as dominant as we thought. Being the defending champions, they get the benefit of the doubt, but this year’s title is still far from certain for the Lakers – and the road to it, despite everything, still goes through Cleveland.

The Los Angeles Lakers

Coach: Phil Jackson
Last Season: 65-17, NBA Champions
Key Additions: Ron Artest (Free Agent, Houston)
Key Losses: Trevor Ariza (FA, Houston), Sun Yue (waived)

Offseason: After ending a 7 year championship drought, the Lakers’ main offseason goal was keeping the squad intact. However, when Trevor Ariza declined a 5 year, 33 million dollar offer following his breakout campaign, the Lakers instead used their mid-level exception to sign Houston’s free agent, Ron Artest, for that exact deal. Ariza then signed with the Rockets for, ironically, 5 years, 33 million.

Though the Lakers swapped Ariza for a much bigger name, they might have gotten the shorter end of the stick. With all due respect to Ron, he just doesn’t seem to be a good fit with this team, especially considering the player he’s replacing. Unlike Trevor Ariza, who was perfectly content with his role player status, Artest has been (or has viewed himself as) a star his entire career. However, he just isn’t that good. He doesn’t seem to care that he is an extremely inefficient offensive player - jacking up 15-20 bad shots a game. Where are those touches coming from? You know that Kobe won’t give them up. Pau already got way too little touches during last season's playoffs. If Artest doesn’t figure out his new role, he could turn the Lakers’ offense into chaos.

In addition, Artest just isn’t the defender he used to be. He can no longer guard elite swingmen. He is much slower and heavier than he used to be – he even had trouble staying in front of Corey Maggette during a preseason game. Artest may return to his top notch form and prove me wrong, but according to last season, the Lakers lost their best defender (Ariza) and replaced him with a far inferior one.

It seems to me that signing a player as volatile with Artest – probably the owner of the most infamous off-court track record of the past decade in the NBA – is enough of a gamble as is. But when pairing that with the fact that Artest might not even be an improvement over his predecessor, it’s a gamble that’s not only dangerous, but unnecessary. And even though Phil Jackson is probably the coach best equipped to deal with Ron – remember, he harnessed Dennis Rodman – the team would have been better off sticking to what they know.

Apart from the Ariza-Artest switch, the Lakers had a quiet offseason basketball wise, resigning their other two free agents – Shannon Brown and Lamar Odom. However, off the court, it was drama galore, with Odom’s extension taking several weeks to complete. However, despite the long saga, Odom seems very happy in LA, claiming from the get-go that he has no intention to move. Odom starred again later in the summer, with his much publicised marriage to Khloe Kardashian – I will not elaborate on that, as I find it boring and unrelated to basketball. My apologies to gossip-maniacs. I do, however, find it important to mention that the Lakers waived Sun Yue – probably the most universally loved athlete ever to roam the earth.

X-Factors:
-Point Guard: Apart from Artest, who is clearly the biggest X-Factor this squad has, for all the reasons explained above, the Lakers’ most burning concern personnel wise is at the point guard position. Derek Fisher manned the position for the past 2 seasons, but at 35 has noticeably lost a step. Despite a strong showing in the Finals (11 ppg, 50% FG, 44% from 3, and two huge threes during a crucial game 4 overtime win), Fisher was bad throughout the regular season, and downright terrible in the Western Conference Playoffs (35% FG, 23% from three). Not only that, but Jordan Farmar, who had a very promising sophomore campaign in 2007-2008, hit a wall last season, shooting only 39% from the floor, putting up an absolutely atrocious 9.9 PER, and raising questions regarding his ability to inherit Fisher’s spot. The Lakers’ third Point man, Shannon Brown, showed some promise last season after arriving from Charlotte via trade, and was re-signed to a 2 year, 4.2 million deal. However, he has yet to prove that he can play at a high level throughout the season.

The Lakers had major trouble guarding opposing point guards, specifically small and quick ones. Their defense on this Point Guard prototype was so bad last postseason, that Houston’s Aaron Brooks torched them during their second round 7 game series, scoring 18 ppg, on 46% shooting. If the Lakers have trouble with Aaron Brooks, what are they going to do against world class, small, quick point guards such as Chris Paul, Tony Parker and Jameer Nelson? Their ability to guard this position will go a long way towards guaranteeing them a repeat, but if they can’t, I don’t see how they can get past the Spurs in the West.

-Motivation: The 2004 Lakers, probably one of the most talented squads of the last decayed, imploded with inner drama and stories. Last season’s squad managed to avoid the drama, but will they still be friends now that they have that title? After every single person on that team gave everything for that ring, and they got it, will they put aside squabbles for the second consecutive season or will egos explode? Will Pau Gasol complain about touches? Will Lamar Odom want to start or will he be willing to remain a 6th man? Will Phil Jackson still be motivated to lead this squad now that he passed Red Auerbach on the all-time title list? Is he even capable of motivating them? It has always been said that defending a title is harder than winning one. The Lakers need to prove that they still want it.

-Kobe: Last season, Kobe Bryant finally got rid of that monkey on his back, and won a title as the alpha dog of his team. Now that he has silenced the critics, will he still be fully committed to that goal? Will he still involve his teammates, or will he revert to get-my-own-stats-Kobe? Also, Kobe is 31, and has played over 200 games the past two seasons, including the Olympics with Team USA, all of this with an injured finger. Basketball players all reach a stage where their body breaks down; has Kobe reached this stage? Kobe is such a competitor, that he’ll probably stay focused on getting that 5th title all throughout, but it should still be pointed out that with Kobe's history, it isn’t a given.

-Andrew Bynum: The past two seasons, Bynum displayed borderline all-star form before succumbing to injury, returning far from full strength in the playoffs. If Bynum can play to his potential, the Lakers have the best frontcourt in the league. But if he’s injured, then Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom are pretty much alone up front, unless you are a huge Josh Powell/DJ Mbenga fan. The Lakers were able to win without Bynum at his best last season – but with all other contenders stacking up during the offseason, they need the young big man in order to repeat.

Prediction: Despite my doubts about Artest’s effect on the team, the Lakers are still pretty much the same squad that won last year’s championship, and must be considered the favorite to repeat until we see evidence to the contrary. If drama/injuries don’t catch up with this team, they should finish atop their conference during the regular season, fully prepared to meet the Spurs in the Western Conference Finals. It will be very hard to count them out. 61-21, 1st place in the West.