Lebron James’ Cavaliers have beaten Kobe Bryant’s Lakers five times in a row and 6 out of 9 times since they’ve gone head to head. Last night’s game went in Kobe’s favor as Bryant and the Lakers beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 105-88.

Down by only a single point at halftime, the Lakers came out strong in the 2nd half outscoring the Cavs by 10 in the 3rd quarter and 8 points in the 4th quarter. This game was one in which the Lakers players all finished in positives and the Cavs team finished in negatives.

The game was one of supporting casts and benches. Lebron James was surrounded by four teammates that reached double digit scoring including Varejao with 10 points, Pavlovic with 12 points, Mo Williams with 16 points and JJ Hickson with 11. Kobe’s supporting case played slightly better as five guys reached double digit scoring including Pau Gasol who was the Lakers leading scorer with 22 points, Derek Fisher with 11 points, Andrew Bynum with 14 points, Trevor Ariza with 10 points and Sasha Vujacic with 14 points.

Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum complemented each other very nicely playing a total of 65 minutes, shooting 17-23 from the field, and collecting 18 rebounds, including 7 offensive. Also, the Lakers had 27 assists on 44 made field goals and only 3 turnovers in the pivotal 2nd half. The only truly sad line of the night for the Lakers was the 47% free throw shooting on 7-15 shooting from the line.

Even with the great performances of the benches and the end result being the Lakers coming away with a win and taking a 1/2 game lead on the Cavs, the fans really don’t care about the end result. There is only one thing the general public cares about, thats Kobe vs Lebron. So here it is.

Kobe had a very complete game once again with 20 points and 12 assists. As someone who watches Kobe every single night, it’s been a real pleasure to see Kobe suddenly turn up his level of play. He has managed to find his teammates a lot more open as of late and is dropping double digit assists in game after game. Kobe is averaging 27 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 5 assists this season in 36 minutes, his lowest since his 2nd year in the league in 1997.

During the 1st quarter of last nights game, Kobe injured his ring finger on his shooting hand. How this happened you ask? I have no clue. I somewhat laugh when I say that because after seeing the play 2753324 times, I still have no idea what went down. Lebron was posting up at the elbow swinging his elbows around and suddenly Kobe grabbed his finger and called for Gary Vitti, the Lakers trainer. Apparently he suffered a dislocated ring finger that Vitti jammed back into place on the sideline (it looked absolutely excruciatingly painful) and then he taped it up. Kobe was squirming in pain the entire time and clearly wasn’t enjoying it. Bryant is one of the most competitive players in the NBA, if not the most competitive, and he was back in the game without missing a beat.

Even with the messed up finger, Kobe managed to shoot better than Lebron as he went 9-22 compared to James’ 9-25. The fun part for me was watching Kobe takin it upon himself to defend Lebron every single time down court. I expected to see Trevor Ariza chase Lebron around and drive him crazy, but Kobe wouldn’t let that happen. The competitive aspect of Kobe’s game as absolutely amazing to me. I love seeing his competitive spirits and look forward to seeing him keep up this spirit for years to come.