SportsNovember 6, 2002

CLEVELAND -- Darius Miles couldn't help himself. Caught up in the euphoria of a home-opening win over the Lakers, one of the newest Cavaliers spoke his mind. "We're going to put on a show every night," Miles told the Gund Arena crowd. "We're going to surprise the world."...

By Tom Withers, The Associated Press

CLEVELAND -- Darius Miles couldn't help himself. Caught up in the euphoria of a home-opening win over the Lakers, one of the newest Cavaliers spoke his mind.

"We're going to put on a show every night," Miles told the Gund Arena crowd. "We're going to surprise the world."

Well, they've already stunned the Lakers.

Zydrunas Ilgauskas scored 23 points for Cleveland in an 89-70 victory over the Shaq-less Lakers, whose point total was the franchise's lowest since moving to Los Angeles in 1960.

The Lakers scored just 10 points in the fourth quarter.

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Ricky Davis added 24 points and Tyrone Hill had 17 rebounds for the Cavs, who dazzled a crowd of 19,833 -- including high school phenom LeBron James -- by blowing out the three-time defending NBA champions.

"I love proving people wrong," said Miles, who had 13 points in his home debut. "They say we're the 29th team in the league? Maybe we'll just go out and make the playoffs."

With Shaquille O'Neal missing his fifth game while recovering from off-season foot surgery, the Lakers had no inside game and only Kobe Bryant as an offensive threat.

Bryant finished with 15 points, 13 rebounds and nine assists in 40 minutes, and just missed becoming the first player since Grant Hill in 1997 to have three straight triple-doubles.

"We didn't hit shots and fell in love with the outside shot too much and they didn't fall," Bryant said.

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