Clash of the Titans

As the minutes counted down prior to the Lakers-Cavaliers game, every basketball fanatic was asking the same question: Which NBA All-Star will take his team to victory tonight? The answer: Neither. Although the Cavaliers closed out the game on a 35-23 run, LeBron was not the reason to celebrate. In fact, it was the unpopular, looked over, and unsung heroes that climbed the mountain to victory, and yes, did it while carrying LeBron James on their backs.

The Lakers-Cavaliers match up is always an entertaining sports event. And as everyone knows, it is because of two constantly uttered names: Kobe Bryant and LeBron James. Whether it's asking which one is better, or questioning who is closer to being the next Michael Jordan, the two continuously rank atop the season scoring leaders. But is this necessarily a good statistic? Before going into last night's game, the scoring leader in the previous four games, whether it was Kobe or LeBron, ended in a loss. And the tradition continued. Bryant, who is averaging an astounding 28.6 PPG (which many fans view as a low for him), put up 36 against the unrequited Cavs, doubling LeBron's measly 18 points (eight points under his 26.2 average). But Bryant came up 9 points short as the Cavaliers cruised to victory in Cleveland 99-90. However, unlike what most fans would believe if they heard the Cavaliers won, James was not responsible for the tight victory. It was two other Cavaliers, one of which has probably never been uttered from the mouth of any basketball fanatic: Sasha Pavlovic and Zydrunas Ilgauskas. These European heroes combined for 38 points and shot 50% (15-30) from the field. Pavlovic, who scored a team high 21 points, came up big in the fourth quarter, racking up 13 and giving the Cavs another tally in the win column. Isn't that funny? Pavlovic led the Cavaliers, not LeBron.

But the Cavaliers still have much to improve if they want to be considered the Eastern Conference Champions. The omnipotent Kobe Bryant was unstoppable, putting up jump shots, getting to the free throw line, and dunking over heads at will. Bryant shot 12-24 from the field, adding 7 rebounds and 6 assists to his impressive 36 points. Not to mention he shot a perfect 11-11 from the charity stripe. And that's not all. Kobe led his team in times of distraught, and down by eleven after the first half, gave the Lakers a three point lead entering the fourth and final quarter. But Bryant was out of gas. And who was there to help him? Lamar Odom? Andrew Bynum? No, no one picked up Kobe when he was down. No one took the shot during the pressure situations. And how did this result in the Lakers' favor? It resulted in a depressing nine point loss. Once Cleveland finally found an answer to Kobe's "immortality," they doubled him up and pressured him on every possession. Kobe went scoreless in the last 3:39 of the game and the Cavs came out hungry, surpassing the Kwame Brownless Los Angeles Lakers. So if someone were to ask me if I would rather take Kobe over LeBron I would respond with: "It's not important whether I have Kobe or LeBron, they're both incredible. The real question is who would the other four players on the court be?"