Lakers not tough enough to take down Cavs

CLEVELAND -- Really, it came down to a question of toughness. The Cleveland Cavaliers flexed their muscles, and the Los Angeles Lakers failed to respond to the challenge during the second showdown between the NBA's top two teams in less than a month.

The Cavaliers scrapped together a victory over the Lakers on Christmas Day in Los Angeles and they did it again Thursday night at home, winning 93-87. They beat the Lakers to loose balls all over the court. They got more rebounds and more assists, too.

The Lakers have trouble matching the Cavs' toughness during the loss. (Getty Images)

LeBron James scored 12 of his team-leading 37 points in the fourth quarter, but Anderson Varejao's ability to draw a foul on the Lakers' Ron Artest after James missed a free throw with 21.2 seconds left in a three-point game loomed just as large.

Varejao then sank the clinching free throws.

James' willingness to get his hand on an errant midcourt pass by the Lakers' Lamar Odom in the third quarter raised a few eyebrows around the Quicken Loans Arena, too. James chased after the loose ball at top speed, but couldn't get to it before it bounced out of bounds.

James hurdled the Lakers' bench and landed in the second row.

The play sent a jolt of energy through the Cavs and their fans.

Later, James declined to attach any cosmic significance to the Cavs' season sweep of the Lakers after losing both games to them in 2008-09.

"The championship still runs through L.A," James said. "It doesn't matter if you beat the team four times, you still have to beat them in the Finals to take that trophy away from them."

Lakers guard Kobe Bryant wasn't too worried about dropping two to the Cavs. After all, the Lakers lost to the Orlando Magic twice during the regular season and then handled them in five games to win the 15th championship in franchise history.

Bryant was concerned about how the Lakers lost Thursday, however.

Toughness has been an issue with the Lakers for several seasons. The Boston Celtics manhandled them while beating them in six games in the 2008 Finals, which left a bad feeling in the pits of the Lakers' stomachs that was cured by their 2009 Finals win.

Standing in front of reporters, Bryant revisited the issue of grit.

"We have to make some adjustments," he said, after scoring 31 points and passing the 25,000-point milestone for his career. "We have to make some improvements. The mentality has to change a little bit playing against these teams -- these teams that are more physical, tough-minded, hard-nosed types of teams."

When someone asked if the Lakers were surprised by the Cavs' physical play, Bryant cringed. He knew the Lakers should have been ready to push back, based on what they saw from the Cavaliers on Christmas Day at Staples Center.

"This is what they do," he said. "We have to try to step up to match that. That's not part of our DNA. We have to step up to match that and still play skillful basketball. We blew a couple of assignments defensively. There were a couple of [lapses]."

There's more to it than just brawn, though.

"I think last year we probably were a little hungrier and played a little harder [in the two games against Cleveland]," Bryant said.

"This year when we played them the two times, they were the hungrier team. I think they sensed if they want to win a championship they're going to have to go after it.

"So they're playing with a sense of urgency we played with last year."

How to regain that edge one season after winning a title is the eternal question in all sports. If it were easy to repeat, then you would see repeat champions. Instead, winning two in a row is rare.

The Lakers are the last NBA team to win consecutive championships when they took three straight titles to start the 2000s.

Midseason motivation was an issue for those Lakers teams, too. Bryant smiled broadly then laughed heartily when asked about it. Clearly, it was a question he had addressed publicly with reporters and privately with teammates and coaches.

"Teams have dealt with this before and it's something we have to try to figure out as other teams in the past who have repeated tried to figure it out," he said. "You go through situations where you play Cleveland, you play Denver, you play teams who are hungry. You develop it [toughness] and you nourish it until you get to the playoffs and you're ready to go."

So, how do the Lakers get tougher?

Practice, practice, practice.

"I'm going to go to practice and I'm going to strangle every single one of them," a laughing Bryant said, referring to his teammates.

"You've just got to go to work and practice hard and play hard. This is the type of game we're going to face and we're going to have to prepare for that. It starts in practice."