Just looking at the teams’ records, Wednesday night’s game between the L.A. Lakers and Cleveland Cavaliers looks like a giant mismatch, and L.A. is an 11-point favorite on Bodog’s NBA odds. But the Lakers haven’t looked like themselves in the past two games and, well, the Cavs already took care of the other Los Angeles team last week. Yeah, it’s probably a stretch.
After starting their season-high seven-game road trip with four consecutive wins, the Lakers lost to the Orlando Magic on Sunday by 14 points and then were dominated by the Charlotte Bobcats Monday night during a 20-point beat-down. Kobe Bryant left Charlotte without speaking to reporters. Lakers coach Phil Jackson issued a brief statement: “I have one thing to say. We’re very disappointed in our performance tonight. We’re embarrassed with how we played. Thank you.” Los Angeles shot a combined 5 for 35 (14.3 percent) from 3-point range at Orlando and Charlotte and its bench was awful.
The Cavs, of course, ended their NBA-record 26-game losing streak with an overtime win over the Clippers last Friday but then went out and allowed the road winless Wizards to come to Cleveland and win 115-100 on Sunday. And the Cavs didn’t exactly show up the last time they played the Lakers. On Jan. 11, Cleveland lost in L.A. 112-57, setting franchise records for fewest points scored and most lopsided loss. It was the Lakers’ largest margin of victory since 1972, and they held the Cavaliers to 29.9% shooting.
One positive is the Cavs are much healthier now than they were then. They played that night without Daniel Gibson and Anthony Parker, and Mo Williams was playing with an ailing hip. Parker and Williams are healthy now, although Gibson remains questionable with a quad injury. He may sit regardless to get extra rest as this is the Cavs’ final game before the break.