Errant Lakers Are Anything but Cavalier

El Nino this.

Drought came to Los Angeles on Sunday night in the form of the Lakers and their 57 points and 34.7% shooting through three quarters, a showing nearly as unimaginable as what almost followed.

Behind by 23 points late in the third quarter and by 19 with 11 minutes remaining, they staged a furious comeback behind Kobe Bryant that at least allowed for respectability. Still, they lost, 94-84, to the Cavaliers before 16,945 at the Forum. It was the eighth win in a row for Cleveland.

The Lakers’ third loss in 18 games--and the first in nine games at home--included season-lows in shooting (36.1%) and points. In the end, they still got nothing more than a hint of offense from the highest-scoring backcourt in the league, with Nick Van Exel making one of 10 shots and Eddie Jones two of 11.

“They jumped out on us pretty early,” Van Exel said. “We just couldn’t get back on our feet.”

The Lakers would have to settle for their knees. Bryant got his crowd and his team back in the game by scoring 14 points in a 16-5 run to open the final period that cut Cleveland’s lead to 81-73. The rally eventually grew to 22-7, making it 83-79 with 2:18 remaining.

Said Bryant of the Cavaliers: “They started panicking.”

No arguments there.

“We were nervous,” Cleveland guard Wesley Person said. “The Lakers kept doing it and doing it.”

Only not long enough. Bryant finished with a team-high 21 points, 14 of which came in the fourth quarter, but he also missed two close-range shots in the final 2 1/2 minutes. Derek Fisher missed two free throws and Elden Campbell one of two. Had they been made, more weight would have been added to the Cavaliers, already without Shawn Kemp for the final 3:48 when he fouled out.

It slipped away from the Lakers for good with 1:03 to play, immediately after the second lost opportunity inside by Bryant. Person, his team leading by five points, hit a 25-footer from the left side, making it 88-80.

“When Kemp went out, I took it as a challenge,” Person said after his game-high 22 points. “I was the one who would have to take the shots.”

Strange that anyone on the Cavaliers would need to. The 41 points for the Lakers through two quarters were their fewest in a first half this season, but they also were an accomplishment, coming as they did after the terrible beginning.

Jones was the only starter with a field goal in the opening quarter.

After missing their first nine shots, the Lakers didn’t score from the field until 7:18 had expired, by which time they were already down by 10 points. It didn’t help that Elden Campbell lasted barely two minutes before going to the bench with two fouls, but that was nothing compared to the sight of the team that came in No. 1 in the league in accuracy shooting 23.5% in the opening period.

That was four makes in 17 shots. That was also a 15-point quarter, tied for their fewest in a period.

To come back from that and then shoot 56.3% in the second period was especially significant. Combined with only two turnovers, that allowed the Lakers to stay close; on this night, a seven-point halftime deficit was an accomplishment.

Low-scoring games have been the Cavalier trademark since last season. But this isn’t the same Cleveland team as that of last season. There are several rookies playing and new players in all, one of whom, Kemp, has been an all-star and was acquired to provide a major inside presence.

These Cavaliers came in still laboring on offense--they are 23rd in the league with an average of 92.4 points per outing, even after averaging 101.4 points over the previous 2 1/2 weeks--but also riding a seven-game winning streak. Five of the seven wins came on the road, most notably in Charlotte, so what happened Sunday wasn’t a complete surprise.

The ease of the first three quarters was, though. All that remained was for them to hold on to the finish, through Bryant’s fourth quarter.

Hold on through the storm.