The AP reports:
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The Lakers humiliated the Cavs while sending them to their 11th straight loss, rolling to a 112-57 victory on Tuesday night in 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.” …
The Cavs were without starting center Anderson Varejao, who tore his right ankle in a routine conditioning drill. Also missing were missing Joey Graham (right quad strain), Daniel Gibson (left ankle sprain), Leon Powe (right torn meniscus) and Anthony Parker (lower back strain).
