Cavaliers 94, Lakers 90
December 20th, 2007, 7:51 pm · Post a Comment · posted by KEVIN DING, OCREGISTER.COM
CLEVELAND – It was an eerily similar loss Thursday night for the Lakers to their only other loss since Dec. 2. The Lakers faltered late and couldn’t get clutch shots from co-captains Kobe Bryant and Derek Fisher against a hungry home team – and they lost to the Cleveland Cavaliers just as they lost recently to the Golden State Warriors.
The Lakers were outscored, 21-12, in the fourth quarter. LeBron James scored a game-high 33 points, topping Bryant’s 21 and Fisher’s 18.
Fisher missed a 3-pointer with 54.8 seconds left, Lamar Odom missed a 3-pointer with 15.9 seconds left and Andrew Bynum missed two foul shots with 11.9 seconds left. Still, the Lakers had a chance – but Bryant hit the back iron on a 3-pointer with 4.9 seconds left that would’ve given the Lakers a 93-92 lead.
BANK-SHOT BRYANT
Bryant missed three of his first four foul shots and then banked his next attempt in with 5:15 left in the first period. After the first-quarter buzzer Bryant threw a hook shot from beyond midcourt and banked it off the rim.
NO MARQUEE MATCHUP
There was only a brief second-quarter stretch before game’s final minutes when James and Bryant were matched up against each other. It was mostly James against Luke Walton or Trevor Ariza and Bryant against Sasha Pavlovic or Larry Hughes.
FOUL AND PAIN
After Bryant sat down to rest with 36 seconds left in the third quarter, Odom tried to take over on offense and spun into a charging foul – and hurt his right forearm in the collision with Anderson Varejao.
NEXT
Lakers at Philadelphia, 4 p.m. Thursday, KCAL/9 (5:30 p.m.), KLAC/570
