Cavaliers at Lakers
THE STORY: The Cleveland Cavaliers showed an abundance of energy in a 101-90 victory over the Phoenix Suns on Thursday. The Cavaliers will try to carry that over when they continue their seven-game road trip Friday night against the Los Angeles Lakers at Staples Center. The Lakers have won seven in a row at home and superstar Kobe Bryant has produced back-to-back 40-point-plus games. Cavaliers rookie point guard Kyrie Irving scored a career-high 26 points on 11-of-17 shooting and Antawn Jamison had 23. “It was definitely fun playing against a great point guard like Steve Nash,” Irving said. “I have been watching him for so long and playing against him was a little surreal.” Irving, 19, was born in 1992, the same year Nash was a college freshman at Santa Clara. Something for the Cavaliers to hang their hat on: In 28 games against the Cavaliers, Bryant is averaging 22.3 points, his lowest career scoring average against any NBA opponent.
TV: 10:30 p.m. ET, FS Ohio (Cavaliers), FS West (Lakers)
ABOUT THE CAVALIERS (5-5): The Cavaliers have one of the youngest teams in the NBA with seven players with one year or less experience. Irving, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2011 draft, is living up to his billing and the Suns were impressed. “I told him he put me on ESPN with his fancy moves,” Phoenix center Marcin Gortat said. “He’s talented. He was really good today. But I didn’t help (defensively) on the pick-and-rolls and he was able to beat (Nash).”
ABOUT THE LAKERS (8-4): Bryant already is contributing more than is probably expected for a player in his 16th season, even one as talented as No. 24, but he may have to carry more of the backcourt load. That’s because backup guard Steve Blake is day-to-day with bruised ribs. Blake was originally hurt Tuesday and then aggravated the injury at Utah on Wednesday night. Blake averages 7.3 points and has seen more playing time than veteran starter Derek Fisher.
BUZZER BEATERS:
1. In their last home game against the Cavaliers last Jan. 11, the Lakers defeated Cleveland 112-57. It marked the fewest points allowed by the Lakers to any opponent in the shot clock era.
2. Lakers coach Mike Brown coached five seasons in Cleveland, helping the Cavaliers to the 2007 NBA Finals.
3. Lakers C Andrew Bynum has 496,597 votes, easily ahead of the Clippers' DeAndre Jordan (134,961) among All-Star Game voting for Western Conference centers.