The Lakers' Dwight Howard tries to drive around Cleveland's Tristan Thompson during first half action Sunday at Staples Center. (David Crane/Staff Photographer)
After laboring the past week against faster and younger teams, the Lakers finally found an opponent that matches their caliber.
It might seem an offensive statement, considering the Lakers boast Kobe Bryant, Steve Nash and Dwight Howard. But since when has that translated into consistent wins this season?
The Lakers' 113-93 victory Sunday over the Cleveland Cavaliers featured elements they'd love to replicate against teams beyond those that rank second-to-last in the Eastern Conference.
The Lakers held an opponent to under 100 points for the first time in seven games, allowing the 18,997 fans to walk out of Staples Center for once with free tacos. Kobe Bryant's 23 points on a 9-of-14 clip marked the first time in five games he shot above 50 percent, a rare blip in an otherwise efficient season.
Howard played in his first game since missing the past three because of a right shoulder injury and had 22 points and 14 rebounds and showed much more explosiveness than his surgically repaired back has often allowed.
Then there's the case of Earl Clark, whose 13 points and nine rebounds continued his remarkable consistency since cracking the rotation in the past week.
With that, the Lakers avoided their first seven-game losing streak since March 2007.
"This is a baby step," Lakers coach Mike D'Antoni said. "But it's a step."
The Lakers (16-21) remain in 11 th place in the Western Conference, sitting four games behind the Portland
Trail Blazers (20-17) for the eighth playoff seed. It might seem ridiculous monitoring playoff implications from regular-season games in January. Then again, eighth seeds in the past five seasons averaged 48 victories."I don't want to overdo it and I don't want to undersell it," Nash said. "It's important for us to make up that ground now."
A dependable bench in Antawn Jamison (16 points) and Darius Morris (14 points) made it possible for D'Antoni to rest Bryant (28 minutes), Nash (28 minutes) and Howard (30 minutes).
Despite the absences of Jordan Hill (season-ending left hip injury) and Pau Gasol (concussion), the Lakers didn't fret over their depleted lineup.
The Lakers opened the first quarter on an 11-4 run and hardly looked back. They found joy in Nash's lobs to Howard, partly accounting for his nine assists. They found comfort in Clark maintaining his surprising play. The Lakers laughed over Metta World Peace bricking a fast-break dunk in the third quarter, only for the ball to drop in the basket seconds later.
World Peace provided more comedy afterwards. He playfully mocked reporters for praising the Lakers' defense considering Cleveland's 9-30 record and accused them of being Clippers fans, among other things.
"You have such low expectations for us now," World Peace said. "We played great defense tonight? OK, it's supposed to be against five rookies that don't know how to play the game. They see Kobe and are excited to be in Staples Center after they partied last night. We're supposed to win."
Still, how do the Lakers carry this over?
"Play like we did tonight," said Howard, who admitted being surprised he returned so quickly considering the pain level in his right shoulder.
"The ball moved. Everybody was in a good rhythm on the offensive end. On the defensive end, we talked. We were in the right spots. And we forced them to take tough shots."
Not everything went perfectly. The Lakers still committed 22 turnovers and allowed 40 points in the paint. But for a team that had gone winless for nearly two weeks, the Lakers provided a great starting point in sparking a turnaround.
mark.medina@dailynews.com twitter.com/MedinaLakersNBA
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