NBA basketball is fantastic. You should know that by now. We’ve all seen the promos and commercials for years. Now of course we get singing Muppet’s representing Lebron & Kobe, we get our fill of Charles Barkley, Dwayne Wade and Dwight Howard commercials and we definitely get our full Christmas days worth of NBA basketball. Unfortunately, only the Lebron & Kobe gave us a little drama…a little.
After painfully struggling through a few minutes of watching the Knicks and the Heat, I decided it was time to walk our Lab Allie and do some eating. After some holiday munching, NBA fans had Boston and Orlando to look forward to on ABC.On paper, this is the match up most would enjoy watching and probably two of the four finalists in the Eastern Conference. However, this game also was like watching paint dry. Oh my goodness, what a beating of a game to try and watch. That’s exactly what we did. We tried to watch, but with Orlando hovering around 44 points with a few minutes left in the third quarter, it was time to switch over and watch a holiday classic, “Home Alone”. I know, that’s how bad the game was.
Never fail, game three of the day was the prime time special match up of defending champion Los Angeles Lakers against the Cleveland Cavaliers. Lebron James versus Kobe Bryant! That’s a can’t miss game to watch and maybe a preview of the NBA Finals to come. You know ABC was praying this game would live up to the billing.
No matter what time of year it might be, anytime these teams meet, it’s pride and “who’s the man” on the line. The story lines are numerous. Lakers are the champs and Kobe is King. Lebron is known as King James and yet the Cavs are the wannabee champs. It’s Christmas day, etc..etc..etc. Kudos to Cleveland for coming out firing on all cylinders and making Kobe work his ass off for every shot. There was plenty of bumping, hacking, pushing, shoving, talking smack, talking crap, and then the game got physical. Kobe didn’t get much support from his teammates but that was due to the Cavaliers physical play and were not taking any crap attitude for forty-eight minutes.
Things started well for Lebron and company outscoring the Lakers by four after one, by five points after two quarters and defused any thoughts of a give the ball to Kobe comeback by outscoring the defending champions by eight more after three quarters to take a 76-59 lead going into the 4th quarter. Throughout the first three quarters, Lebron was mixing in a few high flying dunks, a three pointer, and dishing out a few dimes here and there. But, it was Cavs guard Mo Williams, who hit the big shots and played bump and grind with Derek Fisher all night until things got a little testy. Williams scorched the Lakers defense and led the Cavs in scoring with 28 points. By then, the Cavs had frustrated Kobe and the Lakers into a whining, crying, pushing and complaining game that eventually had the Lakers crowd celebrating the Christmas holiday by acting like morons. At one point in the fourth quarter, the Cavs had the game in hand, Kobe frustrated, and the refs handing out some technical fouls, the LA crowd started throwing objects onto the court. Huh, Hollywood going cuckoo nest? Yes, the Laker rich and famous went nuts on Christmas Day on national television. Is that how your supposed to act? Where’s Jack Nicholson when you need him?
Calmer heads finally prevailed asLebron gathered his troops, threatened to leave the floor for safety, then cooled the tempers that flared and put away the Lakersand their obnoxious crowd for good with a Christmas day thumping of 102-87. All hands were on deck for both teams on Christmas day. No excuses could be made by either squad. The world watched as Lebron James and company dominated this game by flexing their muscles and not allowing bully Ron Artest and Kobe “I’m going to impose my will” Bryant to change the outcome. This was game one of two these big boys will play during the regular season. You might want to get your calendar now and write this date down. Put a big asterisk next to Thursday night, January 21 in Cleveland on TNT.That’s the last regular season match up between these two titans. Something tells me Mr. Bryant and the Lakerswill show up with something to prove. Might want to bring some boxing gloves next time too.
I don’t know about you, but I won’t miss that rematch. And, if you do happen to miss it and forget to set your Tivo, don’t fret just yet. Something tells me we’ll see these two in the NBA Finals when that arrives. Get your popcorn ready!
