Lakers-Cavaliers: Los Angeles Loses the Battle, Can Cleveland Win the War?

I never read too much into regular season games because they are a poor indicator of how a team will perform under the tedium of the postseason but to deny the magnitude of Thursday night's game between the Los Angeles Lakers and Cleveland Cavaliers is beyond my realm of comprehension.

Kobe Bryant and LeBron James, together on the same court, in a contest for all the marbles. Well, at least regular season bragging rights coupled with the opportunity for LeBron fans to renew their claims of LeBron as the better player.

This 92-87 loss for the Lakers will have little impact on final playoff positioning, but it must pain Los Angeles to know they let a game that was played even, slip away due to a failure to grasp the simple fundamentals of the game.

I do nothing to discount James' performance in the fourth quarter where he took control of the game with a 12-point outburst, but the Lakers' ineptitude had as much to do with this one as any of James' 37 points did.

Free throws are a premium on the road because they allow the visiting team to get points while the clock is stopped and in tight games they can be a temporary reprieve to a raucous crowd.

The Lakers, usually a stellar team from the line, shot a dismal 62 percent and were failed by their biggest stars when their normal efficiency was needed the most.

Kobe, bothered by his broken index finger, went 5-for-8 and Pau Gasol was 3-for-6, but Gasol missed two with 24 seconds left, which would have tied the game, and possibly given the Lakers the chance to extend it to overtime.

The Lakers were only out-rebounded by five boards, but some of them were critical and due to the nature of the game the small things were magnified as the contest drew to a close.

The game was played on mostly even terms throughout with the Lakers leading by as many as 11 points, but with the Cavaliers keeping them within striking distance the entire time.

So, what insight can be gleaned and what knowledge can each team take away from this game as they push further into the second half of the season?

For the Cavaliers, the win gave them the confidence of knowing they can beat the Lakers at home or away, and they have to be pleased with their defensive performance as they held the Lakers to 38 percent shooting from the floor.

The Cavaliers also gained a measure of assurance after winning the game minus their point guard, Mo Williams, who torched the Lakers for 28 points in the team's matchup on Christmas Day.

The Laker defense performed well for the most part, save a few terrible sequences played by Gasol and center Andrew Bynum on Shaquille O'Neal. LeBron got his points but Ron Artest did provide decent resistance.

The Lakers benefited from the absence of Williams because other than LeBron, the Cavaliers lacked any other player with the ability to penetrate the porous Los Angeles perimeter defense.

The Lakers definitely were more prepared to play this game, and must now concentrate on the fundamental aspects that will shore up their defenses, and help them persevere in close games.

LeBron James said after the game that he lives for these moments, and maybe the Lakers can find comfort in that statement alone, because these are not the types of games Los Angeles lives for.

The Lakers are the defending NBA champions and returning to that stage should be the paramount goal in this final regular season sprint, although the bragging rights would have been nice.

2009 contains another lesson for the Lakers because it was the last time they were swept by an Eastern Conference opponent, the Orlando Magic, who the Lakers returned the ultimate favor by defeating them for the NBA crown.