Photo: Jae C. Hong/AP

"All for one. One for all."

I put it at the end of every single Cavaliers article I write. Sure, it may be a marketing gimmick of sorts. It's also a personal reminder to myself and all those who read it of what mentality must be present for the Cavaliers to get to the promised land in June. They used that type of attitude today to absolute smother the Lakers on their home floor, where they seemed just a little too sure of their superiority for their own good. They used immensely amazing team defense, key shots from multiple players, and a physical toughness throughout the entire game to keep a safe distance from the now five-loss Lakers.

Return of the Twin Towers: We haven't seen it since the Orlando game, but the Zydrunas Ilgauskas-Shaquille O'Neal frontcourt duo made a return to action early in this game since J.J. Hickson came out of the gate just reeking of inexperience of mistake-making ability. The Cavaliers trailed 8-5 when Z checked in for J.J., and the team went on a 8-2 run with the twin 7-footers up front. For the game, the Cavaliers were +8 with the duo on the court together, and they played side-by-side for nearly ten minutes. The two worked together so well in the first quarter that Mike Brown made a smart decision, perhaps the decision of the game, in starting Z over Hickson to start the second half, which could have prevented a potential Laker surge to start the third. Neither center was fantastic offensively. O'Neal made five field goals, all dunks, in eight shot attempts, scoring 11 points and grabbing 7 rebounds in 22 minutes. Z shot just 1-of-6, but grabbed 9 rebounds to go with his 2 points and 2 assists in 30 minutes. The real story of these two was on the defensive end though. No longer are the Cavaliers powerless against the large Laker frontline.

Photo: Associated Press

The young, athletic Sacramento Kings and budding star Tyreke Evans gave the wine and gold all they could handle tonight, but the Cavaliers' big three of LeBron James, Mo Williams, and......... Zydrunas Ilgauskas refused to let the Cavaliers fall in this one. LeBron's fourth quarter defense on Evans, Mo's key buckets late, and Ilgauskas's three trifectas in overtime helped the Cavs outscore the Kings 13-0 in the extra five minute session. The Cavaliers are now 2-1 on the roadtrip with the Christmas day extravaganza against the Lakers next on the slate.

Big King lineup: Sacramento may very well have the largest starting lineup in the league. Tonight, they started a 6'6" point guard in Tyreke Evans and a 6'11" shooting guard in Donte Greene. In fact, all of the starters for the Kings were in the first, second, or third season in the league, showing how truly green they are. Kevin Martin, their best overall player, has been out several weeks with a wrist injury, so it's a credit to this team that they are playing near .500 basketball without him. They are also missing three-point shooter Francisco Garcia.

Photo: Matt York/AP

After the relatively unimpressive five game winning streak against lesser opponents and the disappointing loss to the Mavericks without Nowitzki on Sunday night, the Cavaliers needed a game to get them out of their funk of too many turnovers, not enough offensive execution, and poor defensive rebounding. Fortunately for them, they landed in Phoenix, where they were the last team to come into town and beat the Suns on their home court. They did it again in impressive fashion with spectacular offensive execution inside the arc and an absolute surge to blow away PHX in the fourth quarter, winning by 18.

Moon, Barbosa out: Both teams were missing key reserves in Jamario Moon and Leandro Barbosa tonight. Moon was ruled as doubtful before the game, but he warmed up with the team and was cleared to play. However, he recorded a DNP, and the Cavaliers were fine without him as someone usually gets the short end of the stick in the 10-man rotation anyway.

LeBron v. Amare in the 1st: The lightning quick pace of the first quarter was right up Phoenix's alley, but give the Cavaliers credit for matching them pretty much point-for-point. LeBron came up with a clear and evident focus; he knew how important it was not to drop two in a row to start this road trip. By the first television timeout, both players were in double figures with 10 points each. LeBron had some fantastic first quarter dunks, including one high-flyer right over top of Stoudemire. Amare was hitting mid-range jumpers as Shaq and later Andy were late in getting out to contest those shots. Steve Nash also added eight first quarter points, and the Suns lead by one after one.

Photo: Bucknuts.com

I would like to apologize for leaving you hanging following the Buckeye victory against the Wolverines in Ann Arbor. What took so long, you ask? Well, unfortunately, I cannot truthfully claim to have been on a month-long party cruise celebrating the Buckeyes sixth consecutive win against 'that team from up north' that resulted in the first back-to-back losing seasons by the 'scUMmers' in nearly 50 years (the last time occurring in 1962-1963). The truth is that my brief thoughts on Ohio State's regular season finale aren't really worthy of a full-blown article for two reasons: 1) because any 'team' from that terrible state doesn't deserve that much attention, especially one that finished at the cellar of the Big Televen, and 2) because my thoughts on the victory in Ann Arbor can be summed up in just a few paragraphs:

Photo: Tony Gutierrez/AP

There was no doubt that it was going to happen sooner rather than later. The Cavalier win streak was stopped at five tonight after the Mavericks, who were without superstar Dirk Nowitzki, showed their depth and offensive shotmaking prowess by making the Cavaliers pay for the same mistakes they got away with against lesser opponents during the streak. The Cavaliers now find themselves out west and in a heap of trouble with three very tough games left before they hit the home floor once again next Sunday night. Here's a look at some of what went wrong.

No Dirk, but no Moon either: Dirk Nowitzki missed this game due to a laceration on his right elbow suffered on Friday night when he knocked out five of Carl Landry's chiclets, leaving parts of two of them in his elbow. As for Jamario, he was M.I.A. because of a left abdominal strain.

Photo: Andrew Glockner/Cleveland.com

It wasn't the most memorable game, nor was it even close to the Cavaliers' best performance of the season, but it was a special game for me, because my family and I were in attendance tonight. The wine and gold started cold and ended colder, but their third quarter run to create a double digit lead and their second half defense proved to be just enough for their fifth straight win to improve to 20-7 before their four-game west coast holiday swing.

Deja vu all over again: Last time the Bucks and Cavs locked heads, Milwaukee jumped out to an 11-0 lead. Tonight, the Bucks had the hot start once again, jumping out to an 18-7 advantage. The Bucks started 8-for-11 and had six guys involved in scoring early, while the Cavaliers started 3-for-9. The one positive for the Cavaliers was that Shaquille O'Neal drew two early fouls on Bucks center Andrew Bogut. Mo Williams was called for an offensive foul just twenty seconds in, and he was slow to get up. A few minutes later, he was blocked by Andrew Bogut and struggled to get his shoe back on. As Milwaukee raced down the floor 5-on-4 and drilled a three pointer, LeBron in turn raced past them and nearly ran over Mo.

Photo: Ron Cortes/Philadelphia Inquirer

It took a Herculean effort from LeBron James, a 76er field goal dry spell, and two clutch field goals by Mo Williams (his only two of the game), but the Cavaliers bumped the current win streak to four with a seven-point victory when they trailed the Sixers with under five minutes to play.

Welcome back: Delonte West returned after a one-game stint on the inactive list for the all-too-familiar personal reasons to play in the arena closest to where he played college ball at St. Joseph's. West saw 23 minutes of action, finishing with 4 points, 2 rebounds, 2 steals, 1 assist, and 1 block.

Never-ending changes for the ragtag Sixers: Coach Eddie Jordan's team seems to be in constant flux. With the recent addition of Allen Iverson, they have now gone to a small starting lineup, sending Elton Brand to the bench, moving the athletic forward Thaddeus Young to the four spot, and employing a backcourt of rookie Jrue Holiday, Iverson, and Andre Iguodala. Brand has been a disappointment of epic proportions for this team, and he will take a large amount of the blame for why this team isn't better. Honestly, this team should be competitive, but they are clearly not anywhere in the vicinity of that right now. The small lineup was actually a nice option against the Cavaliers, however, as they have recently struggled in the transition game, especially on the defensive end. Philly racked up 30 fast break points compared to just 14 of them for Cleveland, and they had some high-flying finishes courtesy of Andre Iguodala.

Photo: Joshua Gunter/The Plain Dealer

The two-win New Jersey Nets came into the Q tonight, and the Cavaliers played like they had won the game before they had even stepped on the floor. Turnovers, frequent fouling, and a general lack of focus allowed the Nets to hang around for the entire game. In the end, the Cavalier centers and a Devin Harris ejection proved to be enough to extend the Cavalier win streak to three, but the Cavaliers have a lot to look at after this one.

One in, one out: Daniel Gibson made his return after missing the past two games with a sprained right pinky, but it was Delonte West who kept the Cavaliers at less than full strength. West had "a couple of bad days" according to Brian Windhorst, and so he misses yet another game in the truly hour-by-hour saga that is the 2009 Delonte West.

Photo: AP/Sue Ogrocki

With just over four minutes to play, the Cavaliers were up just four points with the ball. A deflection sent the ball past the midcourt line, and the Cavaliers looked certain to suffer a shot clock violation. They needed a miracle heave to at least draw iron, but Mo Williams did better than that. Mo Gotti's 48-foot set shot was as pure as his 23-foot jumpers, and it broke the backs of the young Thunder, who never climbed out of the seven-point hole.

Shaq, no Boobie: Shaquille O'Neal returned without missing a game after getting scratched across the eye by Blazer center Joel Przybilla on Friday night. Daniel Gibson's right pinky, however, was too swollen for him to participate. He was questionable and participated in shootaround, so hopefully we'll see him on Tuesday.

Photo: Joshua Gunter/Cleveland.com

The Cavaliers looked willing and likely to extend their losing streak to three games early in the third quarter tonight as their defecit swelled to twelve just seconds in. But, Mike Brown got a burst of energy from the Energizer Bunny himself, Anderson Varejao. Wild Thing went on a scoring spree spurred by his energy and hustle, and him and LeBron proved to be too much for Portland on a night where the Cavaliers were far from perfect, but good enough to secure the five-point home win.

Banged up Blazers, under the weather Cavaliers: The Portland Trail Blazers are probably the most injury-affected team in the association. Currently, they are without key players Greg Oden, Nicholas Batum, Travis Outlaw, and Rudy Fernandez. Even their head coach Nate McMillan wasn't on the road trip as he was recovering from an Achilles' tear. Assistant Dean Demopoulos wore the coaching hat for the evening. As for the wine and gold, Mo Williams and Anderson Varejao missed shootaround with flu-like symptoms. They were deemed "very questionable", but they both gave it a go after being gametime decisions. The Cavaliers were without Daniel Gibson and his swollen right pinky finger.