NBA Game of the Night – Los Angeles Lakers at Cleveland Cavaliers

Thursday, January 21st – 8:00 PM ET

Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland

Basketball Betting Spread: Cavaliers -3

The Week That Was: Lakers

The defending NBA Finals Champs opened their week with one of their most dominating performances of the season. It wasn’t even fun watching; it was like seeing a man repeatedly kick a baby. The Lakers absolutely crushed the Clippers last Friday, 126-86. Los Angeles (the good one, not the bad one) scored 73 points in the second half, a season-high.

Pau Gasol returned to the lineup after a six-game absence and promptly dropped 20 points and added six boards. The blowout frustrated Baron Davis to a point where he tried to fight both Derek Fisher and Gasol. Something tells me that would not have ended well.

The Lakers followed their Hollywood beat-down with a solid 98-92 win over their NBA Final opponents from last season, the Orlando Magic. Kobe Bryant struggled, going 4-for-19 from the field and ending with only 11 points. But the Lakers bench was able to bail him out. Shannon Brown had a career high 22 and the Lakers bench-crew outscored the Magic’s backups 42-15.

LA was held to just 13 points in the third quarter but stormed back in the final frame, showing resiliency reserved for defending champions. The Lakers defense also clamped down when they needed too, holding Dwight Howard to just one field goal after halftime.

The Week That Was: Cavaliers

The Cavs opened the week with a heartbreaker, losing 97-96 to the Utah Jazz last Thursday thanks to a last second shot by a rookie whose name is too irrelevant to look up. The loss is even worse considering the Cavs had a six-point lead with just 32.5 seconds to go before inept free throw shooting doomed them. Also, a season-high 23 turnovers during the game didn’t help.

Cleveland almost suffered the same fate on Saturday against the Clippers. Up by one with seconds to play, Baron Davis launched a three that would have won it for LA. Luckily it missed and Cleveland left the Staples Center with a 102-101 win. However it wasn’t all roses for Cleveland. They allowed a season high 59.7% shooting percentage from the field, and failed to score in the last 2:23 of the game.

LeBron James stole the show against the Raptors on Tuesday, finishing with 28 points, 11 assists and 9 rebounds in a 108-100 win over Toronto. After being run over for the first three quarters, the Cleveland defense really stepped up in the fourth, giving up only 17 points. The Cavs improved to 15-3 at home.

Outlook & Pick

Games between powerhouses can really go either way. Sometimes statistics never seem to matter in the end, it’s all about who gets hot at the right point during the game. Although it is worth pointing out that the Cavs are 12-1 in their last 13 at home and haven’t lost at the QL Arena since November 5th.

Gasol’s return last week allowed the Lakers to dress all 13 of their players for the first time all season. The Lakers were already a league best 32-9 before they were 100% healthy. Who knows how high their ceiling can get. My favourite stat is that the Lakers have yet to lose to the same team twice this season. They’re 3-0 against teams they’ve already lost too. Cleveland beat LA on Christmas Day. But as I said, past stats really don’t matter in games like these.

Basketball Expert Pick: Los Angeles Lakers +3