The Cleveland Cavaliers have played 20 games at home this season; they've won them all. Lebron James headed a makeshift lineup — one that saw him playing 12 minutes at center. James finished the game with 29 points in 43 minutes as the Cavs beat the New Orleans Hornets, 92-78.
Delonte West was on the bench with a cast on his wrist, Zydrunas Ilgauskas was in suit, Ben Wallace could play only 15 queasy minutes, Anderson Varejao was in foul trouble, and LeBron James was stuffed up and nursing an arm injury by the end of the night. In town was a better rested team with one of the top records in the Western Conference, a team that has owned them for the last two years.
How can all that be combated? Play James at center for, oh, about 12 minutes in the second half. Have the 6-foot-2 Daniel Gibson guard the 6-9 David West in the post and have two role players have their best games of the season.
In other words, Seigfried and Roy had nothing on Mike Brown in this one.
Kobe Is Afraid Of Bees. When asked about facing the Orlando Magic last night, Bryant said they were a good team, but not intimidating. After which, he dropped this gem [From Land o' Skeets, bold added]:
My suspicions were confirmed after the reporter next to me asked another Magic related question. "Would you be intimated by the [Magic] if you saw them again in the Finals?" he asked.
"Me, intimidated?" Kobe asked quizzically as a smile began to appear on his face. "Nah, man," he continued, "Unless it's a bee I'm not intimidated by anything."
Maybe he should have been intimidated. The Magic beat the Lakers again last night, 109-103.
Mark Cuban Is J. R. Smith's BFF. After that whole elbowing thing involving the Nuggets' player that saw Cuban storming onto the court and racking up a $25,000 fine, Cuban demonstrated the benefit of having his own blog:
In the spirit of the joy of my getting fined and your not getting the tech, have the Nuggets PR folks contact the Mavs PR folks and I will donate 25k to the charity of your choice.
Unless of course your coach thinks that the wrong thing to do, or the NBA says I can’t because it would be a violation of a rule. In which case, I will find a charity that I think you would like and make the donation in your name.
bff
m
In other words, "Fuck you. I have the money."