CavsCast: Cavaliers Travel to LA-LA Land
This afternoon’s nationally televised matchup between the Cavaliers and Los Angeles Lakers will pit a 23-19 team against a squad that’s 27-14.
If you had looked at this game going into the season and were told that the Lakers, not the defending Eastern Conference champion Cavs, were 27-14, then you probably would have thought that Kobe must be averaging close to 50 points a game.
Not so. Kobe is at 27.7 a night, a full two points-per-game behind LeBron’s league-leading 29.7 points per game. While both teams have been accused far more than any of being one-man teams, the Los Angeles Lakers seemed to have turned a corner by having center Andrew Bynum quickly become one of the best centers in the league at the tender age of 20.
In fact, the Cavs will catch a break today (3:30 Eastern, 12:30 Pacific) since Bynum will be out with a left knee injury. Andrew Bynum, who is averaging 13.1 points, 10.2 boards, and 2.1 blocks on 63.6 percent shooting, will be out until March, a devastating blow for a Laker club that was keeping up with the best teams in the West.
Cleveland, however, comes into this game after having lost a heartbreaker at the buzzer at home to Phoenix. The Cavs have still lost just twice in the month of January, and they come into this meeting having won four straight against the Los Angeles Lakers. L.A. has not beaten Cleveland since a Kobe Bryant buzzer-beater dropped the Cavs, 99-98, at Staples Center in January of 2006.
LeBron comes into this game having averaged 27.4 points in nine career games against the Lakers. Kobe Bryant, meanwhile, has put up 32.3 in his last four games against the Cavs, all losses.
Will the Lakers overcome Bynum’s absence to overcome Cleveland’s physical frontcourt? Will LeBron match Kobe’s killer instinct if the game comes down to one last shot? Tell us what you think in CavsCast!
[More at mvn.com]
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