On Thursday night, the Cavaliers handled business. Playing on national television and against the rival Los Angeles Lakers, they won 93-87 and have now taken both regular-season games against the best team in the Western Conference. Amidst the media spectacle that LeBron vs. Kobe has become, the Cavaliers solidified themselves as the best team in the league.

The Cavs were without Mo Williams, who will unfortunately miss the next 4-6 weeks because of his left shoulder. This is not good news, but the team came together to win a close game against Kobe's team, which is never an easy task. After the game the Cavs took another hit when they found out that Delonte West is going to be injured for several weeks as well. I guess it's better to have the injury bug now instead of during playoff time, so let's just hope that's the case.

LeBron outplayed and outscored Bryant, who is still playing with a bandage on his broken index finger. Kobe did come out of the gate firing though, scoring the games first 5 points and helping them get to an early 9-0 lead. The Cavs settled down afterwards, played ridiculously good defense on Kobe, and let LeBron go to work. The King dropped 37 points, had 9 assists, and 2 steals. This is particularly impressive because Ron Artest is still considered one of the NBA's premiere shut-down defenders, and he played solid defense all game long. None of that really matters though when LeBron gets in a zone, there is virtually nothing that can be done to stop a 6 foot 8" 265 lb. freight train when it gets going. That's pretty much what defending LeBron must be like.

This was a great win for the Cavs, and sent a clear message to Kobe and the Lakers. The Cavaliers are a very physical basketball team, and imposed their will on the Lakers who can not match the depth and skill the Cavs have at the center position. The Lakers underuse Pau Gasol offensively, as they have resorted to letting Kobe shoot a ton of jumpshots every game. That is not a good formula to win playoff games in June, and the Lakers will not repeat this year. LeBron trusts his teammates, you can't say the same thing about Kobe. LeBron James is underrated