Let’s face it – we just had a Sunday that we all as Cavs fans would love to forget. The Cavs just lost their first home game of the season to the Lakers. Well, it was nice while it lasted and at least it was the team at the top of the Western Conference hill. Believe it or not, the loss didn’t bother me as much as the waythat we lost the game. I know everybody has their opinion as to why the good guys lost arguably the biggest game of the season so far, but let me share a couple of my own that I think would have had us on SportsCenter claiming to be the NBA’s best. The only things that I will speak on are the things that were under their own control.

Reason #1- The Fundamental Box-Out

I played basketball for a long time and anybody who has even one ounce of fundamentals should know about the box-out. This game the Cavs did not use this one at all. Because of the lack thereof, Lamar Odom had 28 points and 17 boards – 17 BOARDS! I’m not saying that Odom isn’t talented (inconsistent is more appropriate), but if we could just put a body on him at 5 or 6 times, this game is totally different, trust me.If you look back at the game, you will see instances where different defenders on Odom (Ben Wallace, J.J. Hickson) just didn’t box him out and he had his way. I haven’t seen a game from Odom like this since…since…I really can’t remember, to be honest.

Reason #2 – Who Hired These Refs Anyway?

So being as unbiased as I possibly could, I saw a lot of fouls that went uncalled against the Lakers. Granted, the Lakers played ok defense, but they also put their hand in the foul “cookie jar” often without getting penalized nearly as much. To get to the point, the refs weren’t on their job much at all, but that doesn’t let the Cavs off the hook. Even though the no-calls were at an all-time high, we still should’ve been attacking the hoop and making this team work. The way I see it, the refs have been working against us all season, so this shouldn’t have been any different. It comes down to just having that “us against the world” mentality that’s made us who we are today. Refs aren’t our friends and won’t bail us out - bottom line.

These were the two main things that I saw in the game that I wish would’ve been different. I think that this game was a cry for us to get back to basics and do what we do best to become the best. I KNOW that we can beat L.A., Boston, or any other team in the league any time, any place. There really wasn’t a need to call any one player out because this was a team loss more than anything. We just have to make sure that even though we’re finally in the spotlight getting the lights, camera, and action for once that we still stick to the fundamentals that got us these W’s in the first place. All that said, let’s go to Indiana and get back to what we do best – WIN!