SEASON’S BEATING

Lakers fans give performance the finger — the foam finger

Mo Williams took the starring role in Los Angeles as the Cavs rolled past the Lakers, 102-87.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The yellow foam hands came flying in from every corner of the lower bowl, sailing onto the court in dozens of frisbee-style arches late in the Cleveland Cavaliers’ dominant victory.

LeBron James was more worried than amused by this unusual display of frustration from the Los Angeles Lakers’ fans — and he got a bit more concerned when at least one water bottle followed the foam.

Despite that bit of surreality in response to the officiating of a physical game, the Cavaliers were hands-down better than the defending NBA champions in a 102-87 victory on Friday night.

“The only thing that you hope doesn’t happen is one of the players getting hit or a referee getting hit, especially by a full water bottle,” James said. “When that came on the court, it was coming pretty fast. You don’t want that to happen because it could definitely hurt somebody.

“Luckily no one got hurt, and that’s a good thing.”

The fans were driven to throw up their hands — not the usual foam No. 1 fingers, but a representation of two puppet hands making the “LA” symbol in a tie-in to Nike’s LeBron-and-Kobe Bryant marketing campaign — by Lamar Odom’s ejection with 4:04 to play. After Bryant received the Lakers’ fifth T with 3:45 left, more hands took flight — along with that water bottle.

“I’ve never seen an L.A. crowd react like this before,” said coach Phil Jackson, whose bench drew a second T after Odom’s ejection for failing to produce a substitute quickly. “I like their enthusiasm. I don’t like their demonstrative manner. ... It wasn’t a well-refereed game, it wasn’t a very well-played game, so I think it was a reaction to that.”

Mo Williams scored 28 points and James added 26, while Shaquille O’Neal had five dunks among his 11 points in his latest Los Angeles return. The Cavaliers dominated the Lakers with sharp shooting and physical defense, prompting several technical fouls and retaliation hits — and that was before the crowd lost its holiday spirit by returning their pregame presents.

“If you want to throw something, at least throw something that isn’t going to hurt,” Bryant said. “So I guess that [foam] was the best situation.”

Nineteen seconds after the first incident, a water bottle skittered between players without hitting anyone. Cleveland coach Mike Brown said he saw another bottle in flight.

“It’ll be interesting to see what happens in the future with the NBA, where that can’t take place,” Brown said. “I don’t know what the roles are. When water bottles start flying, does it mean it’s a tech, or what? But it’s a scary thing when water bottles and other objects start coming on the floor like they did today.”

Bryant scored 35 points for the Lakers, who had won 16 of 17 before Cleveland’s decisive victory behind Williams, James and the Cavs’ impressive interior play, which negated the Lakers’ usual advantages down low.

O’Neal’s returns to Los Angeles, where he teamed with Bryant to win three titles in Staples Center’s first three seasons, no longer include the obligatory questions about whether Kobe could finally win a title without Shaq, who got boos and cheers during pregame introductions.

With Williams leading the way in his third straight impressive road game, the Cavs forced Bryant and the Lakers into their least impressive performance in six weeks. The loss dropped the Lakers (23-5) back into a tie with Boston atop the overall NBA standings.