Lakers’ big men come up short

Reporting from Cleveland — 

Andrew Bynum sat in his chair with a knit cap on his head and a fat lip courtesy of an elbow from Shaquille O’Neal.

Pau Gasol dressed in a suit, his eyes darting at the assembled media, his spirits down because he failed to deliver for the Lakers in the clutch.

Bynum and Gasol are both 7-footers, and along with Lamar Odom, are supposed to be a dominant front line.

But in a 93-87 loss to the Cavaliers on Thursday night at Quicken Loans Arena, it was Cleveland’s big men who were the most physical and the most effective.

O’Neal, second-year forward J.J. Hickson and reserves Anderson Varejao and Zydrunas Ilgauskas overwhelmed the Lakers’ bigs.

“Yeah, they were physical, that’s for sure,” Bynum said.

Gasol (13 points, eight rebounds), Odom (10 points, 10 rebounds) and Bynum (seven points, eight rebounds) combined for 30 points and 25 rebounds.

O’Neal, Hickson, Varejao and Ilgauskas combined for 40 points and 33 rebounds.

“Bringing Shaq in here has helped bolster [our] front line,” Cleveland Coach Mike Brown said. “It also has given us an inside presence.”

O’Neal and Varejao were at their best in the second half. Gasol was at his worst in the second half, especially with a minute left in the game.

O’Neal scored nine of his 13 points in the second half and Varejao had nine of his 11 points in the second half.

“I’m at the age [37] where people are not going to double,” said O’Neal, who made five of nine shots. “I’ve been shooting 55% my whole career, so if I miss one, I’m not going to miss too many.”

Bynum is 22 and a five-year veteran. At times his youth showed against O’Neal.

“For me personally, my game is backing people down and doing the same thing basically Shaq does,” said Bynum, who’s listed at 285 pounds, 40 pounds less than O’Neal. “You’re not really backing him down. So I’ve got to either get an opportunity to go against one of the other guys or don’t pick up fouls with Shaq so I can stay out on the court.”

It was a miserable ending for Gasol, who missed his only two shots in the crucial fourth quarter.

He missed two short shots that could have given the Lakers a lead with 52 seconds left.

Then he missed two free throws that could have tied the score at 89-89 with 24.1 seconds left.

“I let other stuff that went on before, a couple of plays prior to that, carry over in my head negatively,” said Gasol, who was three for six from the free-throw line, five for 14 from the field. “I can’t do that. When the game is on the line, I’ve got to be able to shake that off and step up and make those free throws. That’s the bottom line.”

It got worse for Gasol.

After LeBron James (37 points, nine assists) missed the second of two free throws, leaving the Lakers down 90-87 with 21.2 seconds left, Gasol failed to get the defensive rebound.

Instead, Varejao, whom Gasol apparently didn’t block out, hustled in and got the offensive rebound.

Ron Artest then was called for a reach-in foul, putting Varejao at the free-throw line.

He made both for a 92-87 lead that spelled the end for the Lakers.

Because he had inside position, Gasol was asked if he was pushed by Varejao.

“Yeah, but like I said, that’s something that happens every box-out,” Gasol said. “I wasn’t expecting any calls there for sure. I didn’t get many calls, so I wasn’t expecting one there at that point.”

It meant that the Lakers took the loss on the chin, mentally (Gasol) and physically (Bynum).

“Yeah, I got elbowed, Shaq-bowed,” Bynum said, laughing. “I didn’t see it. It just happened.”

broderick.turner@latimes.com

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