L.A. gives Cavaliers a Quicken lesson

By BRIAN WINDHORST

Cleveland (39-10) had its worst second half of the season offensively in losing, 101-91.

CLEVELAND — For most of this season, it’s been the Cavaliers handing out the lessons. On Sunday, they were the ones who did the learning.

The Los Angeles Lakers, at least for the moment, are the best team in the NBA. They’re the best road team, too. They showed it in handing the Cavs a 101-91 defeat, the first loss in 24 games at The Q this season.

It closed a 6-0 road trip for the Lakers (41-9) that included wins in both Boston and Cleveland. During it they dealt with the loss of center Andrew Bynum to a knee injury, the shake-up of a trade Saturday afternoon, and Kobe Bryant losing his Sunday brunch at halftime in-between getting hooked up to an IV.

Despite these issues, the Lakers showed more focus and flexibility in their game plan than their hosts. Primarily when it came to Lamar Odom, the mercurial Lakers forward who picked a good day to have his best game of the season.

It cannot be overlooked that the Cavs (39-10) had their worst second half of the season offensively. All of their usually trustworthy parts, LeBron James especially, seeming to shiver. But the Lakers had a major role in that as well.

With Bryant obviously ill and scoring just 19 points, the Lakers again went to their big men as they did the last time the teams met.

In that game, last month in L.A., the Lakers used Bynum and Pau Gasol in the post to hammer the undersized Cavs, who were without Zydrunas Ilgauskas. So this time there was no Bynum and there was Ilgauskas so the old fashioned dump it to the big man on the block wasn’t as workable.

Which is where Odom came in. When the 6-foot-10 veteran is playing well, he’s a matchup problem for every team in the league and he was playing very, very well under the circumstances.

When he’s at his best, Odom is too quick on the drive for Ben Wallace or Anderson Varejao, too big for Wally Szczerbiak inside, and way too savvy for rookie J.J. Hickson. All of them took turns dealing with him and all of their weaknesses were exposed.

He finished with 28 points and 17 rebounds, including seven offensive rebounds. All were season highs for him. In the third quarter alone, he had 15 points and 10 rebounds, three of them direct putbacks. It was the guts of the game’s turning point, when the Lakers went from 10 points down at the half to five ahead going into the fourth quarter.

“That was one of the best games he’s played for us,” Lakers coach Phil Jackson said, referring to Odom’s five seasons in L.A. “I think it was the total package of his game.”

Add Gasol’s 18 points, 12 rebounds and six assists and it is understandable why the Cavs gave up 62 points in the paint, which was devastating.