26-12-2009

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LeBron, Cavs Shine in Rout of Kobe, Lakers. LBJ Debuts the Xmas VII. »

The yellow foam hands came flying in from every corner of the lower bowl, sailing onto the court in dozens of frisbee-style arches late in the Cleveland Cavaliers’ dominant victory. LeBron James was more worried than amused by this unusual display of frustration from the Los Angeles Lakers’ fans – and he got a bit more concerned when at least one water bottle followed the foam. Despite that bit of surreality in response to the officiating of a physical game, the Cavaliers were hands-down better than the defending NBA champions in a 102-87 victory on Friday night. “The only thing that you hope doesn’t happen is one of the players getting hit or a referee getting hit, especially by a full water bottle,” James said. “When that came on the court, it was coming pretty fast. You don’t want that to happen because it could definitely hurt somebody. Luckily no one got hurt, and that’s a good thing.” LBJ rocked the Xmas edition of the Nike Air Max LeBron VII including a special set of Christmassy Green laces. Btw… you can order a pair via eastbay.com or nikestore.com.

The fans were driven to throw up their hands – not the usual foam No. 1 fingers, but a representation of two puppet hands making the “LA” symbol in a tie-in to Nike’s LeBron-and-Kobe Bryant marketing campaign – by Lamar Odom’s ejection with 4:04 to play. After Bryant received the Lakers’ fifth T with 3:45 left, more hands took flight – along with that water bottle. Mo Williams scored 28 points and James added 26, while Shaquille O’Neal had five dunks among his 11 points in his latest Los Angeles return. The Cavaliers dominated the Lakers with sharp shooting and physical defense, prompting several technical fouls and retaliation hits – and that was before the crowd lost its holiday spirit by returning their pregame presents.

Photos Copyright Notice: Copyright 2009 NBAE via Getty Images. Photos by Noah Graham/NBAE via Getty Images, Lisa Blumenfeld/Getty Images, Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images.