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It might have been a bit of a see-saw battle throughout and after the Los Angeles Lakers had been up by 18 the Cleveland Cavaliers narrowed it to 7. That was with a bit more than three minutes left in the game. The Lakers didn’t cede any more ground after that point.

And as has come to be a bit of a habit, a good one, Trevor Ariza hit two big three-pointers to put the game away. The final score was 105-88. The two biggest stories of the game included one that was expected and one that wasn’t.

Within two minutes of the game’s commencement Kobe Bryant dislocated his right ring finger and was immobilized by the pain. A very unusual sight for Laker fans that expect him to shake off whatever injury befalls him.

He played through it only after he had the finger adjusted back into place but it was clear it affected his performance. The other factor was LeBron James. That was the expected front page story: LeBron vs. Kobe.

James, who Kobe asked to guard had an uncharacteristically bad night. Kobe’s shooting was off and I’m sure LeBron had something to do with it but not as much as Kobe had on him. King James had six turnovers and his 9-25 shooting was awful.

Pau Gasol benefited from the absence of big “Z” and without him, the floppy haired Varejao wasn’t effective. He couldn’t keep Bynum and Gasol in check. And where was Ben Wallace? He appeared on the court but he might as well have been a hologram. What a waste of a big contract. Gasol was 11-13 for 22 points and Bynum poured in 14.

The Lakers played physically as they can when faced with a tough Eastern Conference opponent and benefited from the missing Z and guard Delonte West.

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