Hahaha goods!!!!!!! It was Kobe Bryant coming out firing, the bandaged index finger on his shooting hand be darned.
It was Anderson Varejao soaring out of nowhere to grab the game's biggest offensive rebound, then stepping to the line and making a pair of its biggest free throws.
It was LeBron James egging on the home crowd, raising his arms to the rafters and pounding the floor in celebration.
It was Cleveland 93, the L.A. Lakers 87, at a wild and rocking Quicken Loans Arena on Thursday, in a game that was everything NBA fans hoped it would be.
"It was fun," James said. "A lot of people have told me that it was a fun game to watch. Well, it was a fun game to play."
It's true, as this one had it all.
You can talk about how the defending champion Lakers (32-10) sprinted to a 9-0 lead, looking to avenge their Christmas Day defeat at home.
You can mention that the Cavs (33-11) looked lost early without their starting point guard, Mo Williams, who is expected to miss 4-to-6 weeks with a strained shoulder.
And as usual, you can marvel for days about the performances of James (37 points, nine assists) and Bryant (31 points, four assists), neither of whom separated himself from the other in the league's MVP race. But that's only because they were both so good.
For the second time this season, James' team got the better of Bryant's, with Cleveland's king of the courts coming up huge when it mattered most. After all, James made five of his seven shots for 12 points in the final 12 minutes, helping the Cavs hang on to their 67-65 lead entering the fourth quarter.
"That's what it's about," James said. "That's money time. We know that 85 percent of the time, the game is won in the fourth quarter. In our case, it's probably 95 percent of the time. It's a big win for us."
Interestingly, the play of the game came on shot that James missed. It was the second of two free throws, with 21.2 seconds left and the Cavs clinging to a 90-87 lead. (James made the first.)
When the ball came off the rim, Varejao somehow came up with it, using his always-running motor and long arms to snag it in traffic. He was fouled by reaching Lakers forward Ron Artest, and after Varejao made both free throws, the Cavs' lead had suddenly stretched to five.
"That's what I do; I go for every offensive rebound," Varejao said. "Sometimes I get it, sometimes I don't."
On this night, Varejao got it.
"I have no idea how he does it," James said of Varejao. "I'm just glad he's on my side. He always does it at the right time, too."
Shortly before that play, with the Cavs leading 89-87 and 23.4 seconds to go in the game, Lakers forward Pau Gasol missed back-to-back free throws. Considering Gasol is an 86 percent foul shooter, that was about as an odd of an occurrence as there was all night.
"I wasn't effective in the last four minutes," Gasol explained. "When I got to the line, I was still thinking of a couple of times I could have finished a play. It lingered in my head. Obviously, it had a total negative effect."
Shaquille O'Neal (13 points) and J.J. Hickson (11 points, 14 rebounds) also gave magnificent performances for the Cavs, with Hickson finishing with five jackhammer dunks. Varejao added 11 points and eight boards, none bigger than the final one.
Of course, Lakers coach Phil Jackson had a different view when it came to that particular play.
"When they blew the whistle, I thought they were going to call Varejao for coming over the back," Jackson said. "But they called the foul on Ron for grabbing him. In a rebound situation like that at the end of the game, to make that call, is kind of weird."
The Lakers, who swept the two-game season series from the Cavs last year, say the Cavs have been more physical this time around.
"We have to try to step up and match that," Bryant said. "That's not part of our DNA. But we have to step up and match that and still try to play skillful basketball."
The Cavs have won 18 of 22 overall, and are 14-1 in their last 15 home games. The Lakers dropped to 9-7 on the road.
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