After Last Year's Christmas Letdown, Lakers More Prepared Against Heat

Filed under: Cavaliers, Heat, Lakers

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. -- There was so much yawning by the Lakers heading into last year's Christmas Day game you'd have thought the team's practice facility here was a sleep clinic.

The Lakers talked about how Cleveland wasn't a rival and guard Kobe Bryant called it "just another game.'' Well, what then happened?

The Cavaliers crushed the Lakers, 102-87, and the fans at the Staples Center let their frustrations be known. They littered the floor late in the game with foam hands that had been given away.

"Last year, on Christmas, we certainly didn't. The fingers rose to the occasion last year,'' Lakers coach Phil Jackson said after a practice Thursday.

With that in mind, the two-time defending champs vow to be more ready for Saturday's game against Miami, which marks the 12th straight year the Lakers have played on Christmas.

"We understand that as champions on a day like this, what might be just another game to you, to another team it's like it makes their season,'' forward Lamar Odom said about what the Lakers learned from last year's Christmas debacle. "We understand (Miami is) going to come out firing and playing really hard, trying to prove to everybody that they're championship contenders. I think we learned from (last year) and we understand that we need to raise our level of intensity early in the game right from the jump ball.''

 

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Source: http://nba.fanhouse.com/2010/12/23/after-last-years-christmas-letdown-lakers-more-prepared-agains/

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