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Defense wins games, even against the Los Angeles Lakers.

Having LeBron James on offense doesn’t hurt either, though.

The Cavaliers defended their homecourt on Thursday night against the defending champion Lakers by squeaking out a 93-87 victory. The two keys to the game, which have become the staple of the Cavs, were hard-nosed defense and the ability of King James to get whatever he wanted at the other end.

The Lakers shot just 39 percent from the floor for the game as the Cavaliers did an excellent job of forcing them out of the paint, particulary late in the game.

Los Angeles made just one field goal in the paint during the fourth quarter, relying instead on three-pointers to keep them in the game. Although they hit some key shots from beyond the arc, for the game they went just 8-23 on threes.

“Our guys understood that if we trust our defense, especially in the half-court, we will be able to come up with some stops and be able to get out and go the other way with it,” said Cavs coach Mike Brown.” We took away their easy (baskets) and forced them to play into our half-court defense a little bit more.”

The Cavaliers didn’t fair much on perimeter shooting. They shot 33 percent from the three-point line, including a 1-9 performance from long range by James.

Still, James more than made up for it by hitting nearly everything that wasn’t a three.

He went 12-16 from inside the three-point line, including three key jumpers late in the final quarter.

For the game he finished with 37 points, five rebounds and nine assists, outdueling Bryant’s 31 points, two rebounds and four assists.

Most of Bryant’s points came in the first half, when he killed the Cavaliers with his deadly mid-range jumper. He had 20 points by halftime, at which point the Lakers held a 46-44 advantage.

Bryant appeared to be on his way to a 40-plus point game, but the Cavs had other ideas.

They double teamed him often in the second half, forcing him to decide between contested shots or passing off to teammates. He chose the former most of the time, which resulted in him shooting 4-15 for the half.

“We had started to double Kobe because he got into a nice rhythm,” said Brown. ”We started to come after him a bit and that helped us out some because he still scored his points. He is a tough cover.”

With Bryant dominating the ball, especially in the fourth, the other Laker scorers became spectators.

Paul Gasol, Ron Artest and Lamar Odom totaled just two made field goals in the final period.

Gasol had a rough game as he went just 5-14 from the field. He missed two free throws with 24 seconds remaining that would have tied the game up.

“I wasn’t able to be effective in the last four minutes,” said Gasol. ”When I got to the line, I was still thinking a couple of times that I could have finished a play and I let it linger in my head. Obviously, it had a total negative effect.”

Although the Lakers made some mistakes down the stretch, much of the credit still has to go with the winning team, the Cavs, and James.

The 25-year-old missed just two of his seven field goal attempts in the quarter final quarter and was virtually the entire Cavaliers offense down the stretch.

“Obviously, LeBron willed this win for us,” said Brown. ”He has been doing that for us lately, for us the right way down the stretch, no matter who our opponent is.”

The most surprising thing about this Cavalier victory is that they did it without point guard Mo Williams.

Williams will be out for the next 4-to-6 weeks with a shoulder sprain that he suffered on Tuesday against the Raptors. The seventh-year pro is the Cavs second-leading scorer at nearly 17 point per game, meaning other players needed to step up in his absence.

“When you lose your quarterback, it can really hurt you,” said James. ”We were able to settle down, get some good shots and some easy buckets.”

Starting in Williams’ place was Delonte West, who was a starter for Cleveland last year when they won a franchise-record 66 regular season games. West finished with three points.

The Lakers jumped out to an early lead in the first and headed into the second period with a nine-point lead. It looked as if Bryant and Co. might be on a mission to revenge their loss on Christmas Day, but the Cavs wouldn’t have it. They finished the half on a 16-9 run to enter intermission trailing by just two.

Leading the Cavaliers in scoring in the opening half were James, who had 18, and second-year pro J.J. Hickson, who had 11.

Hickson has been streaky all season as he continues to get accustomed to more playing time. As the Laker defense placed most of their focus on James, the 21-year-old was able to find open gaps in the paint, leading to easy baskets.

Hickson didn’t score in the second half, but did finish the game with 14 rebounds.

“He was great,” said James about his young teammate. ”He used his energy, athleticism, speed and quickness to counter their height. We’re a very talented team and we are very good in the frontcourt when he plays at a high level.”

Shaquille O’Neal also had a good game alongside James. He finished with 13 points on 5-9 shooting as the Cavaliers made it a point to force the ball inside to their big center.

“They were coming to me, throwing it to me every time,” said O’Neal. ”I’m at the age where people are not going to double. I’ve been shooting at 50-60 percent my whole career so if I miss one, I’m not going to miss too many.”

A season sweep of the defending champs should go a long way towards the Cavaliers confidence, even if the team won’t openly admit it.

“The championship still goes through L.A,” said James. ”It doesn’t matter if you beat the team four times, you still have to beat them in the Finals to take that trophy away from them. It’s a huge win and I can’t sit here and say it’s just a normal game because it’s not. It is just one win, but we’re happy we got better tonight.”