Lakers Gameday | 1/11/11 | Cavaliers

Lakers crush Cavs 112-57 in best defensive effort

By BETH HARRIS

LOS ANGELES (AP) The Los Angeles Lakers professed no empathy for the hapless Cleveland Cavaliers, only a grim, workmanlike attitude in dispatching the business at hand.

The Lakers humiliated the Cavs while sending them to their 11th straight loss, rolling to a 112-57 victory on Tuesday night in their best defensive performance of the shot clock era.

It was the Lakers' third-largest margin of victory since moving to Los Angeles, with the two biggest coming in 1972 and 1966.

"You don't ever imagine something like that," Kobe Bryant said. "You just go out there and do your job and we did it for 48 minutes."

Ron Artest and Andrew Bynum each scored 15 points, while Pau Gasol had 13 points and 14 rebounds. Bryant, Lamar Odom and Shannon Brown also scored 13 points for the defending NBA champion Lakers, who led the league's worst team by 32 points at halftime on their way to winning their fifth in a row.

"I thought that was embarrassing," said Cavs coach Byron Scott, who once starred for the Lakers. "I told them at halftime, `You look scared. You look flat-out scared. You're playing against the world champions, and instead of just competing and playing hard, you look scared. You look scared to death.' That was my take on it, as simple as that."

Bryant said he "absolutely" felt for Scott.

"It's a tough situation to be in," he said. "He's like an older brother to me, so it's always tough to see him go through something like that."

Reserves Alonzo Gee scored 12 points and Ramon Sessions 10. Cleveland's point total was a record low by a Lakers opponent in the shot clock era.

"We had a defensive goal," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. "We wanted to try and limit them to as few points as possible."

Mission accomplished.

The Cavs shot 30 percent, were outscored 52-28 in the paint and committed 19 turnovers in losing for the 21st time in their last 22 games. They fell to 8-30 overall, 3-18 on the road and 1-5 against the Western Conference.

"It can't be any worse than this. If it is, someone will have to help me because I don't know how much of this I can take," said Antawn Jamison, who had six points. "This by far is rock-bottom. It's definitely by far one of the most embarrassing moments that I've been a part of as far as basketball."

Brown hit a 3-pointer from just inside halfcourt to end the third quarter and give Los Angeles a 92-41 lead, the first time an NBA team has led by that many after three since Nov. 8, 2001, when Chicago was ahead of Minnesota.

"It's our job to beat our opponent and it's our job to even beat them playing badly," Odom said.

The Lakers led 27-12 after the opening quarter and 57-25 at the break.

Since LeBron James' offseason departure, the Cavaliers have gone from being a perennial playoff team that went 7-3 against the Lakers in their previous 10 meetings to a team struggling with injuries and mounting losses.

And after their acrimonious parting, James seems to be taking delight in his former team's embarrassing performance. While it wasn't clear what he was referring to on Twitter, he posted this while the game was getting out of hand: "Crazy. Karma is a b****.. Gets you every time. Its not good to wish bad on anybody. God sees everything!"

"It's a decimated team, obviously," Jackson said. "The Cavs are playing with a lot of their regulars out, so they were hurting a little bit. But they stayed with it and they tried to play, and gave an effort and we were there to meet it."

The Cavs were without starting center Anderson Varejao, who tore his right ankle in a routine conditioning drill. Also missing were missing Joey Graham (right quad strain), Daniel Gibson (left ankle sprain), Leon Powe (right torn meniscus) and Anthony Parker (lower back strain).

Notes: The Lakers improved to 6-2 in the first game of back-to-backs. They'll visit Golden State on Wednesday. ... Gibson rejoined the Cavs in Los Angeles and will continue rehabbing his left ankle sprain as the team travels to Utah and Denver. ... Lakers F Matt Barnes had surgery on a torn lateral meniscus in his right knee earlier Tuesday. He's expected to be out eight weeks. ... Staff Sgt. Salvatore Giunta, Medal of Honor recipient from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, delivered the ball to center court before the game.

Copyright 2010 by STATS LLC and Associated Press. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of STATS LLC and Associated Press is strictly prohibited

Lakers coach Phil Jackson on tonight's game:
"I don't know what to say about a game like that. Sadly, our size was a dominate factor in that ball game, both defensively and offensively. And we had an opportunity to do what we like to do on a back to back, and that's a game where players play short minutes and we have an opportunity to win and move on to the next contest."

Lakers coach Phil Jackson on breaking the franchise record for opponent low points tonight:
"I think that's maybe 10,000 games that the Lakers have had our something, so it says something. It's a decimated team, obviously the Cavs are playing with a lot of their regulars out, so they were hurting a little bit tonight. But, they stayed with it and they tried to play, and gave an effort and we were there to meet it."

Lakers coach Phil Jackson on the team's focus:
"They've been pretty focused lately. You can really see it in their step—their defensive stance, when they're attacking the ball, and being aggressive defensively."

Lakers coach Phil Jackson on staying focused in the game with such a big lead:
"We set a goal, we set a goal at half time. We like to have goals at least that try to be attainable. We didn't want to run and gun. We wanted to play, use our offense, and execute without trying to do things at a high tempo. We also had a defensive goal, we wanted to try and limit them to as few points as possible."

Lakers coach Phil Jackson on tomorrow night's game at Golden State:
"Tomorrow night we start out by talking about how to defend a team, and then we work from there…tempo, setting the tempo, and being aggressive defensively. You know, understanding that they're going to hit three pointers, they make the most, they take the most, etc. So, we just have to get into the idea that this is going to be a different game, it's going to have a different complexity to it and we have to beat that."

Lakers' Kobe Bryant on if a game like this hurts or helps the team:
"I don't know how it could hurt [the team]. We played well, we got better…and that's what you need, that's what we look for."

Lakers' Kobe Bryant on if he feels for Byron Scott:
"Absolutely. Absolutely. It's a tough situation to be in. He's like an older brother to me, so it's always tough to see him go through something like that. "

Lakers' Kobe Bryant on the 3rd largest margin of victory:
"You don't ever imagine something like that. You just go out there and do your job and we did it for 48 minutes tonight."

Lakers' Kobe Bryant on their game against Golden State Warriors tomorrow night:
"…It's another opportunity for us to get better. That's all we're focused on, we're focused on the defense…and it's a huge challenge, they put up a lot of points. And it's going to be fun to go up there and see what we can do."

Lakers' Andrew Bynum on what the challenge is tomorrow against the Golden State Warriors:
"Just rely on our principles, keep doing the same thing…supply help for everybody and see where it takes us."

Lakers' Andrew Bynum on the difference in tonight's game in comparison to other games:
"I think with the practices that we have been having, they're a little bit more intense so we're a lot more in sync…offensively, has something to do with it…"

Lakers' forward Lamar Odom on the Cavs playing so short-handed:
"You can't really worry about who's playing…It's our job to beat our opponent and it's our job to even beat them playing badly. So we are just trying to continue to get better and better, and work on our defense and try to get it down pat."

Lakers' forward Pau Gasol on playing the depleted Cavs:
"They are going through rough times. They have a lot of injuries, but it is what it is. Sometimes, it happens. It's unfortunate. Fortune is not on their side right now as far as staying healthy."

Lakers' forward Pau Gasol on holding the Cavs to 57 points:
"They didn't shoot the ball well. We sustained our effort on the defensive end pretty well throughout the game so that's probably why they only scored 57."

Cleveland Cavs Coach Byron Scott on the loss tonight:
"I hope the guys in there feel like I do. I thought that was embarrassing…guys look scared, looked flat out scared. You're playing against the world champions. Instead of just competing and playing hard as you can, you guys look scared, you look scared to death. That was my take on it. As simple as that."

Cleveland Cavs Coach Byron Scott on if he was surprised his team lost like they did:
"A little surprised. Like I said we've been pretty much competing and playing hard. We've just been competing and like I said, as simple as that we just looked like we were scared."

Cleveland Cavs Coach Byron Scott on what he could say to his team after this loss:
"I pretty much said it at halftime, 'you look scared.' You know, and if you're not going to come out and compete, this is going to be a lot worse than it is at halftime which it ended up being."

Cleveland Cavs Coach Byron Scott on if he anticipated a tough game because of mismatch problems the Lakers posed:
"Oh yeah, no doubt about it. Again, you're playing against the best team in basketball, they're the world champions. So yeah we knew it wasn't going to be easy. But to come out and just not compete? There's no excuse for that."

Cavs' Forward J.J. Hickson on the loss and how to move forward:
"It's tough. You know it's always tough to lose the way we lost. Just get back in the lab, watch film, go and over our coverages. That's why you play 82 games. We'll try to bounce back and get a 'W'."

Cavs' Forward J.J. Hickson on the team psyche:
I think everyone's really upset about this loss but at the end of the day it's only one loss whether you lose by one or how we lost."

Cavs' Forward Antawn Jamison
"They're the back to back champions as soon as we saw the 'Lakers' on their jerseys, man, I don't know, but it's definitely, by far one of the most embarrassing moments that I've been a part of as far as the game of basketball."

Cavs' Forward Antawn Jamison on if this is rock bottom:
"It can't get any worse than this. I don't know how much of this I can take but this by far is rock bottom."

Cavs' Forward Antawn Jamison on what it's going to take to bounce back:
"We have to do some soul searching quick because no matter who we play right now they feel like they can beat us. If we don't have a sense of pride and just play for yourself or something. [If we don't] this might be one of the worst teams to go through a season. The frustrating part about it is I know what we got in us. I don't know, but something has to change."

LAKERS VS. CAVALIERS GAME PREVIEW

By MATT BECKER, STATS Senior Writer

When the Los Angeles Lakers and Cleveland Cavaliers last met nearly one year ago, each team had 32 wins. They have a combined 35 this time, with the Lakers accounting for all but eight of them.

In a matchup that has lost significant luster, surging Los Angeles opens a potentially easy portion of its schedule Tuesday night when it hosts a Cavaliers team hoping to avoid losing for the 21st time in 22 games.

The Lakers (27-11) were swept by Cleveland in last season's two-game series and have lost seven of the last nine meetings, but things will likely be considerably different this time with LeBron James in Miami.

Without James, who had 37 points to lead the Cavaliers to a 93-87 victory in the last meeting between these teams Jan. 21, Cleveland (8-29) has the NBA's worst record.

The two-time defending champion Lakers are legitimate title contenders again, and have a good opportunity to improve their record this week.

Pacific Division-leading Los Angeles visits Golden State on Wednesday, then hosts New Jersey on Friday before donning its road uniforms to face the Clippers on Sunday. Including Cleveland, this week's four opponents are a combined 45-102.

"This is an opportunity for us to play well, and have some good things happen for us," coach Phil Jackson said.

The Lakers shut down high-powered New York 109-87 on Sunday to win for the sixth time in seven games.

"It feels like we're learning things," said Kobe Bryant, who averaged 33.0 points against Cleveland last season. "Every game, it seems we're getting better."

Bryant had 27 points and Pau Gasol finished with 20 points and 14 rebounds Sunday as Los Angeles held the NBA's highest-scoring team 20.6 points below its season average on 36.0-percent shooting. The Lakers, who outrebounded the Knicks 61-42, are allowing an average of 90.5 points during a four-game winning streak.

"I think we can definitely win a championship with this type of defense," Jackson said.

The same cannot be said about the Cavaliers' defense - or offense, for that matter.

Cleveland is allowing an average of 108.4 points in its last seven games, and has topped the 100-point mark just three times in its last 22.

Injuries are playing a big part in the Cavs' struggles. The team learned prior to Sunday's 108-100 loss to Phoenix that leading rebounder and top interior defender Anderson Varejao will miss the rest of the season with a torn ankle tendon. Cleveland is already without guard Daniel Gibson (ankle) and forward Leon Powe (knee surgery).

Against the Suns, the banged-up Cavs were led by rookie Manny Harris' career-best 27 points andJ.J. Hickson's 23 points and career-high 17 rebounds. Cleveland had a chance to end its slide, but was outscored 27-19 in the fourth quarter.

"We continue to play positive basketball, but we have those lulls," said Antwan Jamison, who is averaging 27.8 points and 6.5 rebounds in his last four games.

The Cavs are in the midst of their second 10-game losing streak in a 21-game span. They haven't dropped 11 in a row since a 15-game skid Nov. 8-Dec. 2, 2002.

Cleveland has also lost 16 consecutive road games, the team's longest road losing streak since a franchise-worst 21-game slide to close the 2002-03 season. This stop at Staples Center marks the middle game of a five-game trip.

Copyright 2010 by STATS LLC and Associated Press. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of STATS LLC and Associated Press is strictly prohibited

SEASON& SERIES NOTES; CONNECTIONS
The Lakers lost last season's series with the Cavaliers 0-2 after having swept the 2008- 09 series with Cleveland 2-0. This will be the 98th meeting between the two teams with the Lakers holding a 57-40 series advantage. In their last 10 overall meetings, the Lakers are 3-7 against the Cavaliers. The Lakers are 8-3 all-time against the Cavaliers at STAPLES Center. In Cleveland, the Lakers have gone 4-6 in their last 10 visits to Quicken Loan Arena. Under head coach Phil Jackson, the Lakers are 12-8 against Cleveland. In 26 games against the Cavaliers (23 starts), Kobe Bryant is averaging 22.8 points per game including a series record 47 points 1/30/01 at Cleveland. In his last 10 games against the Cavaliers, Bryant has upped his average to 29.4 points per game (294) despite a variety of health-related issues when facing Cleveland in recent years. On 2/8/09 at Cleveland, Bryant played through the effects of flu-like symptoms. In the prior meeting on 1/19/09, Bryant suffered a dislocated ring finger on his shooting hand but continued to play, marking the 3rd time Bryant has been injured against the Cavs. In 2004, Bryant suffered a sprained right shoulder that limited him to 17 minutes, five of which came after injuring his shoulder in the final seconds of the 1st quarter (1/12/04). Bryant tallied 10 points, 5 rebounds and 2 assists, playing five 2nd quarter minutes predominantly left handed. The following season, Bryant suffered a severely sprained right ankle after landing on Ira Newble's foot with 5:39 remaining in the first period (1/13/05) and did not return until the Lakers/Cavs next meeting that season. Cavs head coach Byron Scott played 11 seasons for the Lakers including his final NBA campaign in 1996-97 with then rookie Kobe Bryant. Lakers assistant coach Jim Cleamons spent the 2004-05 and 2005-06 seasons as an assistant coach on Scott's staff in New Orleans where Scott's last head coaching job was prior to joining the Cavs. Also, Cavs center Ryan Hollins played his collegiate basketball locally at UCLA.

BRYANT MOVES PAST OSCAR ROBERTSON FOR 9th ON THE NBA'S ALL-TIME SCORING LIST
With a running jumper at the 1:09 mark of the third quarter 1/7 vs. New Orleans, Kobe Bryant moved past Oscar Robertson (26,710) for 9th on the NBA's all-time scoring list. Just days early, also at STAPLES Center 1/4 vs. Detroit, Bryant connected on a driving lay-up in the third quarter to move past Dominique Wilkins (26,668) for 10th. Should he continue to score anywhere near his current pace (25.2 ppg), Bryant (26,747) would move to 6th on the all-time list by season's end. Next on the all-time list ahead of Bryant are Hakeem Olajuwon (8th/26,946), Elvin Hayes (7th/27,313) and Moses Malone (6th/27,409). Among the top nine scorers in NBA history, more than half (5) have worn the Lakers uniform (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Karl Malone, Wilt Chamberlain, Shaquille O'Neal and Bryant).
Bryant has been steadily moving up the list over the past few years. Earlier this season, with 23 points at Chicago (12/10/10), he passed John Havlicek (26,395) for 11th. Last season, he passed Alex English (25,613), Reggie Miller (25,279), Jerry West (25,192), Patrick Ewing (24,815) and Allen Iverson (24,368). In passing West with a slam dunk at the 4:14 mark of the third quarter February 1, 2010 at Memphis, finishing the game with 44 points (West's retired number), Bryant became the leading scorer in Lakers franchise history. In 2008-09, Bryant passed Gary Payton (21,813) and Hall-of-Famers Charles Barkley (23,757), Robert Parish (23,334), Adrian Dantley (23,177), Elgin Baylor (23,149), Clyde Drexler (22,195) and Larry Bird (21,791).

ODOM 9TH FASTEST IN NBA HISTORY TO 11,000 POINTS, 7,000 REBOUNDS AND 3,000 ASSISTS; 23rd PLAYER EVER TO DO SO
With 10 rebounds 1/5/10 at Phoenix, Lamar Odom surpassed 7,000 rebounds for his career, becoming just the 23rd player in NBA history to reach 11,000 points, 7,000 rebounds and 3,000 assists and the 9th fastest to do so in terms of games. Only Larry Bird (680 games), Kevin Garnett (681 games), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (691 games), Wilt Chamberlain (691 games), Chris Webber (695), Elgin Baylor (716 games), Bill Russell (746 games) and Charles Barkley (762 games) reached those totals faster than Odom, who did so in 783 career games.

KOBE BRYANT LEADS ALL PLAYERS AFTER 3rd ROUND OF ALL-STAR BALLOTING
On January 6th, the NBA announced its THIRD returns of 2011 NBA All-Star balloting with Kobe Bryant (1,391,597) LEADING all players in All-Star voting, ahead of Dwight Howard (1,205,159) and LeBron James (1,194,091). Pau Gasol (702,859), who made his third All-Star team last season as a reserve, now ranks 3rd among forwards in the West behind Kevin Durant (945,944) and Carmelo Anthony (742,284). Andrew Bynum (493,237) ranks 2nd among West centers behind Yao Ming (754,583), while Chris Paul (724,605) ranks 2nd among West guards behind Bryant. In the East, James and Kevin Garnett (850,687) lead the forward voting, Dwyane Wade (1,167,649) and Rajon Rondo (929,781) are the top two vote-getters at guard and Howard leads all East centers in balloting.

In each of the last three seasons, Bryant has led the Western Conference in all-star balloting. Last season, Bryant received 2,456,224 votes, finishing second overall to Cleveland's LeBron James (2,549,693). In 2008-09, he accumulated 2,805,397 votes, finishing third in overall balloting behind Dwight Howard (3,150,181) and James (2,940,823). In 2007-08, Bryant garnered 2,004,940 votes to finish fourth in overall voting behind Kevin Garnett (2,399,148), James (2,108,831) and Howard (2,066,991). In 2006-07, when he earned his second All-Star MVP, Bryant finished third overall in balloting behind James and Yao Ming. A three-time All-Star MVP (2002 Philadelphia, 2007 Las Vegas, 2009 Phoenix), Bryant is a 12-time All-Star and had started 11 consecutive All-Star games before missing last year's contest due to a sprained left ankle. Bryant, who was the youngest All-Star in NBA history in 1998, led all players in NBA All-Star balloting in 2003. Gasol has made three All-Star appearances (2006, 2009, 2010) and in 2009, became the 27th Laker in franchise history to be named to an All-Star team.

BACK-TO-BACK
Tuesday's game against Cleveland is the first of a back-to-back set with the Cavaliers and Warriors. This season, the Lakers are 5-2 in the first game and 6-1 in the second of back-to-backs. On the year, the Lakers will play 15 sets of back-to-back games as opposed to the 20 they faced a season ago. The only other time the Lakers have played 15 or fewer sets of back-to-backs came in the team's first ever NBA season (1948-49) when they also played 15 sets of back-to-backs. Chicago, Milwaukee and Atlanta lead the league with 23 back-to-backs each in 2010-11 while Oklahoma City (17), Phoenix (16) and the Lakers (15) will play the fewest sets this season.

FISHER NAMED 2010 "SPORTSMAN OF THE YEAR" BY LOS ANGELES SPORTS COUNCIL
On January 6th, the Los Angeles Sports Council announced that Lakers guard Derek Fisher will receive the prestigious 2010 Sportsman of the Year award at the 6th annual LA Sports Awards to be held Thursday, February 24th at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. The LA Sports Awards are presented annually by the Los Angeles Sports Council to celebrate the greatest moments of the year in local sports. The Sportsman award is given to the local male athlete whose performance and character best exemplified the ideals of sportsmanship during the calendar year. Past Sportsman of the Year honorees include Matt Leinart (2005), Elton Brand (2006), David Beckam (2007), Kobe Bryant (2008) and Pau Gasol (2009). The awards show will be televised on FS Prime Ticket (initial airing will be February 25th).

SHOOTER'S TOUCH
In their victory at New Orleans on December 29th, the Lakers posted season-highs for field goal percentage in a quarter (1st quarter/.750), half (1st half/.676) and game (.586) after connecting on only 37.9 percent of their shots in the previous two games combined. Additionally, it was the first time this season that each of the Lakers starters (Artest, Gasol, Bynum, Bryant, Fisher) shot 50 percent or better from the field in the same game.*

BRYANT NOW 3RD ON NBA FRANCHISE CAREER POINTS LIST
Last season, with his 29th point on February 1, 2010 at Memphis, Kobe Bryant surpassed Jerry West as the Lakers all-time leading scorer. In the history of the NBA, only two players have scored more points with a single franchise than Bryant (26,747): Karl Malone (1st/36,374) and Michael Jordan (2nd/29,277). This season, Bryant has moved past Hakeem Olajuwon (26,511) for 3rd on this list (12/19 at Toronto) and John Havlicek (26,395) for 4th (12/10 at Chicago).

IRON MAN
Entering the Lakers game vs. Cleveland, Derek Fisher has played in 451 consecutive regular season games dating back to April 15, 2005, the longest consecutive games streak among all active NBA players. Fisher moved into the top position after Portland's Andre Miller (632) missed the Blazers game against Phoenix (12/7/10) due to NBA suspension. Additionally, Fisher has started 329 consecutive regular season games dating back to January 15, 2007, tops among all active players by more than a season's worth of games (2nd – Luis Scola). Former Laker A.C. Green holds the NBA record for most consecutive games played with 1,192 dating from 11/19/86 – 4/18/01 while a member of the Lakers, Phoenix Suns, Dallas Mavericks and Miami Heat.

RARE HOME STRUGGLES
On Christmas Day, the Lakers lost by 16 points to Miami. In their previous game 12/21 vs. Milwaukee, they lost by 19 points. With both losses coming at home, it was only the 3rd time in franchise history that the Lakers lost back-to-back home games by at least 16 points. The team was in Minneapolis for the previous two, once in January 1959 and once in November/December 1959.* The Lakers, however, snapped the two-game skid with a 102-98 victory over Philadelphia on December 31st, avoiding their first three-game home losing streak (by any margin) since March of 2008: 3/23 vs. GS (111-115), 3/26 vs. CHA (95-108), 3/28 vs. MEM (111-114). The last time the Lakers lost three straight home games, each by double-figures, came in January/February of 1993: 1/18 vs. HOU (90-110), 1/20 vs. SEA (101-111), 2/2 vs. ORL (97-110).

Additionally, with an 85-104 loss 1/2/11 vs. Memphis, the Lakers dropped their second home game of the year by at least 19 points, the first time that has happened since the 2000-01 season when Los Angeles lost 1/7/01 vs. LAC (95-118) and 3/28/01 vs. SAC (84-108). The Lakers haven't dropped three home games by a minimum of 19 points since the 1994-95 season (11/16/94 vs. NY (89-110), 12/9/94 vs. LAC (84-109), 3/17/95 vs. BOS (92-118)).

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