Lakers humiliate the Cavaliers
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The Los Angeles Lakers professed no empathy for the hapless Cleveland Cavaliers, only a grim, workmanlike attitude in dispatching the business at hand.
The Lakers embarrassed the Cavs while sending them to their 11th straight loss, rolling to a 112-57 victory on Tuesday night in Los Angeles during their best defensive performance of the shot clock era.
It was the Lakers' third largest margin of victory since moving to Los Angeles, with the two biggest coming in 1972 and 1966.
"You don't ever imagine something like that," Kobe Bryant said. "You just go out there and do your job and we did it for 48 minutes."
Ron Artest and Andrew Bynum each scored 15 points, while Pau Gasol had 13 points and 14 rebounds. Bryant, Lamar Odom and Shannon Brown also scored 13 points for the defending NBA champion Lakers, who led the league's worst team by 32 points at halftime on their way to winning their fifth in a row.
"I thought that was embarrassing," said Cavs coach Byron Scott, who once starred for the Lakers. "I told them at halftime, 'You look scared. You look flat-out scared. You're playing against the world champions, and instead of just competing and playing hard, you look scared. You look scared to death.' That was my take on it, as simple as that."
Bryant said he "absolutely" felt for Scott.
"It's a tough situation to be in," he said. "He's like an older brother to me, so it's always tough to see him go through something like that."
Reserves Alonzo Gee scored 12 points and Ramon Sessions 10. Cleveland's point total was a record low by a Lakers opponent in the shot clock era.
"We had a defensive goal," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. "We wanted to try and limit them to as few points as possible."
Mission accomplished.
Nuggets win
The Cavs shot 30 percent, were outscored 52-28 in the paint and committed 19 turnovers in losing for the 21st time in their last 22 games. They fell to 8-30 overall, 3-18 on the road and 1-5 against the Western Conference.
In other games, it was: Nuggets 132, Suns 98; Knicks 100, Trailblazers 86; Pacers 111, Sixers 103; Wizards 136, Kings 133; and Spurs 107, Timberwolves 96.
In Denver, Carmelo Anthony and the Denver Nuggets shrugged off trade speculation and blasted the Phoenix Suns in a 132-98 rout on Tuesday.
Anthony, playing amidst speculation that he will soon be traded to the New Jersey Nets, rebounded from a poor performance last time out with 28 points and 10 rebounds.
According to some reports, Anthony's wife is influencing him to force a trade from Denver - something he tried to dispel following his effort against the Suns.
"You can write this in bold... (my wife) has nothing to do with me staying here or me leaving," Anthony said. "Please, keep her out of it. Thank you."
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