Write On Sports

Game 4 was a complete joy for the Oklahoma City Thunder and a big disappointment for the Lakers. On Saturday, the Thunder crushed the Lakers 110-89 to tie the series at 2 games apiece. Game 5 was the pivotal game in this series between the West’s #1 and #8 seeds.

In Game 5, the Lakers, playing in front of their home crowd in the Staples Center, came out blasting and, after blinking, the Thunder found themselves trailing 14-1. This time, the Lakers never let the Thunder back in the game. The final score was a 111-87 blowout in which the Lakers’ big men dominated. Pau Gasol had 25 points and Andrew Bynum had 21. And this time, Kobe Bryant concentrated on defense, stopping Russell Westbrook from taking over as he had in previous games. Westbrook only scored 15, while Kevin Durant only scored 17 to lead the Thunder.

The Lakers now lead the best-of-seven series 3 games to 2. Game 6, where the Lakers will try for the knockout punch, will be played Friday night in Oklahoma City. The Thunder would like to extend the series to 7 games and send it back to Los Angeles.

M. Dean
Muhammad Ali Life

For the third straight game, the Lakers and the Thunder battled down to the wire in a hard-fought, head-to-head war in the opening round of the playoffs. But unlike the first two games, it was the Oklahoma City Thunder who came out victorious this time with a 101-96 win over the defending champion Lakers.

The Lakers looked as if they would blow the Thunder away early as they jumped out to a quick 10-0 lead. With balanced scoring from their team, they maintained that lead until the 4th quarter when the Thunder took over the lead and never relinquished it.

Unfortunately for the Lakers, Oklahoma City shot 34 free throws to only 12 for the Lakers, so the game may have been won by the Thunder or lost by the Lakers at the foul line. Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook scored 29 and 27 points respectively to offset Los Angeles’ balanced scoring.

Kobe Bryant led the team with 24 points, but it wasn’t enough to stop the Thunder who cut the series lead to 2 games to 1. Game 4 will be on Saturday at Oklahoma City.

M. Dean
Muhammad Ali Life

The defending Champion Los Angeles Lakers once again came away with a hard-fought 95-92 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 2 of their best-of-7 series. The Lakers shot a miserable 37% from the field, 27% from 3-point range and a lousy 71% from the free-throw line, yet they managed to win the game. That is because the Thunder did no better statistically, so the Lakers now lead the series 2 games to 0, with the series shifting to Oklahoma City on Thursday.

Kobe Bryant led all scorers with 39 points followed by 25 points by Pau Gasol. After that, the Lakers had very little scoring from the rest of the team, just enough to squeeze out a narrow victory. Kevin Durant led the Thunder with 32 points.

If the Lakers want to have a shot at remaining Champions, they will have to have a better showing than this for the rest of the playoffs.

M. Dean
Muhammad Ali Life

In a hard-fought, rugged, defensive battle, the Los Angeles Lakers began their quest to repeat as NBA Champions by barely defeating the Oklahoma City Thunder 87-79. The Lakers jumped out of the box early, taking a quick 10-4 lead. The Lakers continued at this pace and led by as many as 16 at one point in the contest. But the Thunder, making their franchise playoff debut, were a feisty group and managed to stay within 10 to 12 points throughout most of the contest. In the 4th quarter, the Thunder began closing the gap and pulled to within 6 points at 79-73. But at the end, it was the usual tandem of Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol who managed to stave off the Thunder and take a 1-0 lead in this opening best-of-seven playoff round.

The league’s leading scorer, Kevin Durant, did all he could to keep the Thunder in the game, and led all scorers with 24 points, followed by 23 from his teammate, Russell Westbrook, who also played an outstanding game.

The Lakers were led, as usual, by Kobe Bryant, who finished the game with 21 points, followed by Pau Gasol with 19 and Andrew Bynum who returned from injury to score 13 points.

Game Two of the series will be played on Tuesday, April 20th at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

M. Dean
Muhammad Ali Life