Thunder Rally To Take Commanding 3-1 Lead
Saturday night, the Lakers played their 2nd game in a row of a back to back against the Thunder with hopes to even the series at two games each. Los Angles came out strong in the first quarter as their main focus was to pound the ball inside with Andrew Bynum. Bynum scored 10 points in the first quarter but would only score 8 more the rest of the game as he played almost the entire game with Kendrick Perkins aggressive defense in the 2nd half hindering his play. Fast-forwarding to the 4th, Oklahoma City managed to stay in striking distance as they were only down single digits. Midway through the 4th, Russell Westbrook scored 9 straight Thunder points to close the gap to 4 points at the 4:15 mark. Kobe Bryant had a horrible 4th quarter as he went 2-8 and took some pretty well contested difficult shots. Westbrook carried the Thunder team all the way back as Kevin Durant was ready to leave his imprint on this game. Metta World Peace had a key turnover at the 2 minute mark which lead to a game-tying Kevin Durant bucket. Kendrick Perkins, who only scored 2 points the entire game, had the biggest 2 points of the game as he grabbed an offensive rebound and scored, giving OKC their first lead of the game midway through the 4th. Kobe Bryant was “fouled”, hit the pair of freebies to tie the game and then Kevin Durant immediately proceeded with a daggering 3-pointer giving OKC the lead with 13 seconds left and the rest was history.
Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook combined for 68 of the Thunders 103 points; and power forward Serge Ibaka finished with 14 points going 7-11 and grabbed 4 boards. Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol finished with a combined 28 points going 13-25 together and Kobe Bryant chipped in 38 points shooting 12-28 (3 more shots than Bynum and Gasol combined) and went 14-17 from the stripe. The Lakers could’ve been up 3-1 on OKC, but gave away games 2 and 4, literally. The series now switches back to Oklahoma City Monday night as the Thunder will look to close out the series and grab their bid for a Western Conference Finals showdown with presumably the San Antonio Spurs. The Lakers now with their backs against the wall will come blazing Monday night to keep their season alive with one last shot at extending the series to avoid a second straight 2nd round playoff exit.
Game 5 is scheduled this Monday on TNT with a tip-off set for 9:30 pm (ET).
Win Or Go Home.
Thunder Lead Series 3-1
Game 1: Oklahoma City 119, LA Lakers 90
Game 2: Oklahoma City 77, LA Lakers 75
Game 3: LA Lakers 99, Oklahoma City 96
Game 4: Oklahoma City 103, LA Lakers 100
Game 5: at OKC, Mon. May 21, 9:30 p.m., TNT
Game 6: at LAL, If Necessary
Game 7: at OKC, If Necessary