2012 Conf. Semis: (2) Thunder vs. (3) Lakers

[NovU]

Time for the rest of Lakers team to call out on Kobe for his lack of heart and failure in crucial possessions, which led to OKC's comeback. Lolz. Only guy Kobe can trust night in night out absolutely sucked as well. The Lakers frontcourt have been pretty solid so far, it's the backcourt that haven't been able to fully utilize the bigs and be more consistent on both ends.

[Andrew]

Checked the score over on Yahoo at around the two minute mark when it was 75-68, figured it was over. Needless to say, I was quite surprised when I checked in a little later for the final score and read about the rally.

phpBB [video]

Very impressive rally by the Thunder, quite a meltdown by the Lakers. Looks like it's going to be tightly contested the rest of the way.

[JBoom_LALALAND]

So I guess I'm right then.
Lakers in 6.

[rise]

I voted OKC in 5, but I think LA's getting swept again with the way things are going. That had to be a mood-killing loss for the Lakers.

Someone tell Durant, Harden, and Westbrook to bring brooms to LA. This series isn't coming back to OKC at all.

[benji]

Someone tell Durant, Harden, and Westbrook to bring brooms to LA. This series isn't coming back to OKC at all.

Just don't tell them the Celtics and Sixers won't crack 90!

[NovU]

The Lakers are very much alive. If it wasn't for a rare meltdown by Kobe, the series is even at 1 apiece. And they showed that they are capable of beating the Thunder. But it's true games like this that could cost a series.

This is a physical series. And they certainly can handle that on both ends. The Lakers almost stole game two even with their bigs having an average night. Keep the intensity level up on defensive end, and find the bigs as much as possible on the other end. Good things were happening when they did that. I look forward to game three now as it could shift the momentum back to LA if they play right or it could be over.

[JBoom_LALALAND]

Crucial game three ... the front court has been fine .. meanwhile the back court sucks. I even said that with Kobe on the lineup ..

Sessions has not been showing up .. KObe has been shooting poorly ... and the turnovers ...


I hope we can win this game ... i really hope so ...

[benji]

[Andrew]

As cliche and knee-jerk as it's become to complain about it, I thought that the officiating in Game 3 left something to be desired. Par for the course when Joey Crawford's blowing the whistle, but there were some very soft and baffling calls in that one.

Thunder let it slip away when they gave up a couple of offensive rebounds in the final minute, Lakers pounced on the opportunity and made them pay. Good, competitive game throughout though, playoff basketball and all that.

[Nick]

I enjoyed the hell out of that game. Definitely good playoffs basketball.

What was Ibaka doing going for the 2 when they're 3 down? That was a retarded mental lapse. Although they probably wouldn't have got a shot off anyway.

[JBoom_LALALAND]

So Blake was terrific ... and so was Sessions ... Bynum lived on the line .. Gasol ... Subpar performance ..

Kobe ... just being him ..and that means low shooting percentage .. duh ... clutchness .. etc ..

I was really biting my nail when I saw KD threw that ball from way beyond the arc ...



It's our games to keep here in our home .. way to go Lakers ...

[koberulz]

What was Ibaka doing going for the 2 when they're 3 down? That was a retarded mental lapse. Although they probably wouldn't have got a shot off anyway.

Wasn't he the one that put up the 15-foot fadeaway two possessions prior, too?

How they managed to miss the over-and-back on Durant is beyond me, as is that foul on Harden.

[Phil89]

[Patr1ck]

[NovU]

I just couldn't stay sober bcuz ppl wouldn't leave me alone in Heat thread after that horrid loss and I ended up missing Game 3. But from the stat sheet, I can see the backcourt finally stepped up to meet the challenge. That's good for the Lakers. They could have been up 2 games to 1. But this isn't too bad. Now if they can steal 1 more, this series could really go either way. Great series. The Lakers are always fun to watch even though I don't really root for them. Boring Spurs and Clippers are on TV right now, and they could learn a thing or 2 from OKC vs LAL series.

[jettdaking!]

the guy wearing the Kobe jersey looks like he really wants to beat them up

[Nick]

Sack tap

[shadowgrin]

Read Ibaka's lips. He's saying "tap ma ball" really fast. Gasol obliged.

[deihatein]

Durant is fucking clutch

[shadowgrin]

Of course that's why the Mavs were swept.

[Phil89]

Durant ftw!

Seriously didn't think they'd win this after the Lakers kept their lead at 7-10 points all night. But they found a way.

[Mavs4Life]

MWP's d sucked on that Durant shot, easy buckets for a clutch guy like him. Thought Kobe would hit the tying shot, but I think they could've gone for the 2 there aswell.

[Andrew]

They didn't play a great game from start to finish, but the Thunder got it together when they needed it the most. They even almost erased their rebounding deficit by the end of the game, having been beaten on the boards most of the night and giving up a lot of offensive rebounds. The Lakers left the door open when they started missing some shots late and the Thunder capitalised. Hats off to them for hanging tough, it was very close to going back to OKC tied at two games apiece.

Great move putting Durant on Kobe late. Even though they need to save Durant's legs for the offensive end and they can ill-afford him getting into foul trouble, I think it's something they may need to go to more often, especially in crunch time. He's got the quickness and the length to make things difficult for Kobe...well, as difficult as you can given his offensive prowess and ability to make tough shots.

If they can play with the energy they had during their final push and Harden finds his shot back at home, they can end the series in five. So much the better for the Thunder, they don't want to give the Lakers any hope of making the 3-1 comeback and they'll need to be as fresh as possible facing the Spurs, who are highly unlikely to lose four straight to the Clippers.

[Nick]

Man i thought we were going to be looking at a 2-2 series, but Kobe's play got them in the lead just as much as his game lost it for them. In the last quarter he was just jacking everything.

[uly]

: crazyeyes: what d f****!!its obvious that durant will fire a three, MWP did was just backing out. What a 2 terrible play Lakers did.. 1st the bad pass by Gasol, he could already shoot that, but he chooses to pass... What a waste of opportunity...