Cavs beat Lakers by 4 in Cleveland

Before facing Bryant and Co., Cleveland’s coach wrote “Defend To Win!!!” in the Cavs’ locker room.

CLEVELAND (AP) — LeBron James scored 33 points and shut out Kobe Bryant when the two superstars guarded each other in the final 2:23, leading the Cleveland Cavaliers to a 94-90 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday night.

James, the NBA’s leading scorer, added 10 rebounds and five assists. But it was his pressure on Bryant in the final minutes that helped the Cavs bounce back from a dismal defensive effort in a loss at New York on Wednesday night.

Bryant finished with 21 points, but missed two shots with James chasing him and the Lakers went 0-for-8 from the floor in the final 4 minutes.

Daniel Gibson added 15 points, and Zydrunas Ilgauskas 12 for the Cavs, who held the Lakers to 12 points in the fourth quarter and won for just the third time in 12 games.

Lamar Odom added 19 points for the Lakers. Andrew Bynum had 17 points, but missed two free throws with 11.9 seconds left that would have tied it at 92.

However, on the second miss, Bryant got away from James and grabbed a rebound in traffic before calling timeout with 10.3 seconds left. Bryant winked into a TV camera nearby, knowing he had at least temporarily bailed out his team.

But after taking the inbounds pass, Bryant missed a long 3-pointer with 5 seconds left and Lakers guard Derek Fisher was called for a loose-ball foul despite grabbing a rebound over Gibson.

Gibson made both free throws with 3.3 seconds left to seal it for the Cavs, who were coming off an inexcusable road loss to the dysfunctional Knicks. New York did whatever it wanted on offense in a 108-90 win over Cleveland. Afterward, Cavs coach Mike Brown said he was embarrassed and lamented his club’s lack of effort protecting the basket.

Before facing Bryant and Co., Cleveland’s coach wrote “Defend To Win!!!” on an dry-erase board in the Cavs’ locker room.

The message seemed to get through as the Cavaliers finally showed the type of defensive intensity that led them to their first Eastern Conference title last season.

Cleveland trailed 78-73 entering the fourth, but with James on the bench and Lakers coach Phil Jackson resting Bryant and three other starters, the Cavs opened the final period with a 13-4 run, fueled by Devin Brown’s six points to take an 86-82 lead with 7:34 remaining.

Lakers forward Luke Walton put in his own miss with 4:00 left to put Los Angeles ahead 90-88, but James came back with a jumper to tie it.

And moments later, he switched on Bryant, his teammate last summer on the U.S. national team. The two went at it practice nearly every day, matchups the Lakers’ star said he wished the public could have seen.

“We were out there working as hard as anybody in the world,” James said. “It showed how easy it was for us in games. We worked hard for three or four hours every day at practice trying to get us better.”

The two bonded and James gained a greater respect for Bryant’s game.

“Kobe Bryant is definitely the most explosive player we have in this league,” James said. “There’s no one like him.”

James might be close.

He had 19 points in the first half to 13 for Bryant, who has been more of a playmaker this season for the Lakers.

Odom led Los Angeles with 14 points as the Lakers took a 53-51 halftime lead.

Amid the embarrassment at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday night, James and Brown bumped shoulders on the floor as time was called in the fourth quarter. A video clip of the moment was shown repeatedly on ESPN, and because both Brown and James were upset at the time, it led to speculation there may have been a problem between the two.

“It was one guy looking one way and he was looking the other,” Brown said. “I was kind of shocked when somebody told me (it was an issue). If LeBron has a message for me, he’ll come tell me and if I have a message for him I’ll go to him. There’s nothing to it. I think we have a great relationship.”

James, too, dismissed the incident.

“No issue,” he said.

Notes

Jackson (934) remains one victory behind Dick Motta (935) for eighth on the career list. Red Auerbach is seventh with 938. ... The Kobe vs. LeBron matchup brought out 10 Browns players, including stars Kellen Winslow and Braylon Edwards, who both had courtside seats. ... In Wednesday’s loss at New York, James had 32 points, eight rebounds, six assists and six steals, becoming the first player to hit those totals in a regulation game since Mitch Richmond in 1997.