With the Cavs in town tonight to face the Lakers, I figured I’d contact Fear The Sword, one of the top Cavaliers blogs, to get a few questions answered regarding the NBA’s #1 team (for now). Due to such late minute contact, I didn’t get any questions to answer from them, but let’s just enjoy some inside info on “the other guys”.

LABallTalk: The Cavs are currently in first place in the entire league currently and with a win over the Lakers can open the gap even further. What do you see as the Cavs main game plan in their match up against the Lakers?

Fear The Sword: Injuries for the Cavaliers have really taken the luster off this matchup, in the minds of Cavs fans anyhow.  With 40% of the starting 5 out for this one it will be interesting to see how the Cavs react.  I think you’ll see a lot of what you used to see from the Cavs – LeBron dribbling the ball, looking to go 1-on-5.  There was a lot of that Friday Night in the win against New Orleans.  What the Cavs need to go is move the ball around the floor and force LA to defend everyone.  If it becomes a 1-man game for the Cavs they could struggle tonight

The Cavaliers calling card the past couple of years has been defense, and if they are going to get through this stretch without Z and Delonte West then they are going tp have to defend.

LABallTalk: Many bloggers have consistently written about how much better Lebron is playing this season and that being the reason the Cavs are in 1st place. I believe that the reason is Mo Williams and the first time that Lebron has had a real point guard that can pass and score on his team. What would you say is the reason the Cavs are #1?

Fear The Sword: It’s really a combination of both.  I love LeBron, but there were times that he would take quarters off.  Hell, some nights he would take a game off.  He seemed to have a “just get me to the playoffs” mentality.  It worked one year when he led the Cavaliers to the Finals.  Last season, he found out just how important home court is in May and June against Boston.  Combine those experiences, along with the Olympics, and you have a player who is finally starting to get it.  Finally, LeBron realizes that a November game against Charlotte has the same meaning as an April game against the Lakers, or Pistons.

As for Mo Williams, he has been everything the Cavaliers could have wanted and more.  He is a legitimate scorer when LeBron is off the floor and has taken a lot of pressure off LeBron as a ball-handler for 3 quarters.  Much like MJ in the 90’s, LeBron still has the ball a lot in the 4^th, but for a majority of the game James can move without the ball, which makes defending him that much harder.  Ask Paul Pierce.

LABallTalk: The Kobe Bryant and Lebron James debate will probably continue on for several more years. Who is the better player in your opinion? What do you see happening with this match up in this game?

Fear The Sword: This is a trick question, right? In all honesty, the LeBron James we are seeing in 2008-09 is much closer to the complete basketball player that Kobe has been.  Is he the better player?  I think both do for their teams what they need to do.  There is no doubt that Kobe is a better shooter and pure scorer than LeBron.  I think LeBron is a better facilitator.  Both have shown just how good they can be, when surrounded by talent and both are tremendous leaders on the floor.

What LeBron has done this year, and why he is getting o much MVP pub is play defense every night.  The biggest misconception about LeBron was that he couldn’t play defense.  Quite the contrary.  He just chose to play defense against the best players, Kobe, Pierce, D-Wade, etc.  Other nights he wouldn’t amp it up as much.  Now, LeBron is playing defense every night and getting the respect as a defensive player.

I wouldn’t trade LeBron, and Lakers fans wouldn’t trade Kobe.  I think that says it all.

LABallTalk: What is this new Lebron commercial with the Cleveland Browns? I’ve seen it a bajillion times already and have no clue what the point is. Care to explain?

Fear The Sword: There can’t be too much LeBron, can there?  LeBron has actually admitted that football was his favorite sport to play as a kid growing up, and he was a stud WR his Junior year of HS.  He played basketball because “it came easy”.  If we all could be so lucky.  So, State Farm has this “I’m There” campaign they have been doing, including with the NFL, so they bring in LeBron.  In all honesty, I was surprised it was a Browns uniform since there has been so much made of the “LeBron Loves the Cowboys” story.  That would have been great, in my opinion, but James and State Farm played it safe.

LABallTalk: Who wins this game?

Fear The Sword: I’ll never pick against LeBron and the Cavs so I will go with the Wine and Gold.  If I were a Lakers fan, however, at home, against an undermanned Cavaliers team, I would be upset if the Lakers lost.