Proud of You!

Well it's good to see the Lakers doing something useful, I guess.

Razzle Dazzle!

All doubts, all fears, all criticisms swept aside and left to suffer a miserable death in the gutter. The Lakers welcomed the Thunder back to LA with open arms and then crushed the life out of them. They didn't even have a chance. Right from the tip off the Lakers went 10-0 up and continued through the entire games to make the Thunder look like deers caught in the headlights.

The Lakers did everything right, defense, offense, hustling, passing, everything. It was a sight to see and it was the first time in a long time the Lakers looked like the NBA champions that they are. While everyone did a fantastic job two players stand out the most and that is Pau with his 25 point and 11 rebounds and Kobe Bryant who hustled and lead the team with ferocity. The Thunder were just never going to win this one.

The Lakers made it seem that the team that has boundless energy ready to always fight back look like they had nothing left in the tank.

"It was tough to fight back. Once we tried to, we didn't have any more energy left." Durant

Back we go to Oklahoma to see if this spark will carry into the Ford Center in front of the maniacal Oklahoma crowd.

My Man With A Plan

The Thunder are soon going to regret what they have just done. Phil among others does not like losing and when Phil says things like “We’re going to get this thing turned around tomorrow.” Good times are ahead for the purple and Gold and it's about time.

Phil has gone back and taken a good hard look at this series and has come up with his diagnosis.

“Oklahoma (City) is inconsiderate so much of our team speed that they’ll throw all five of their guys at the boards without defensive balance, and we’re unable to take advantage of it,” he said. “The same thing at the other end of the court. We can do a couple things about that, and we’ll take advantage of it."

Come on Lakers. it's game time!

Sigh...

Well apparently the Thunder want to continue past the first round and it seems like the Lakers are content for them to do so. Guess what happened again to the Lakers, that's right poor shooting an lackluster play. I think I've mentioned this before. Hopefully a return home will get our boys back into the groove and put us past these pesky kids. I'm too depressed to write anymore. I'm going to go sulk in my room.

You May Have Won This Battle

You've got to hand it to the Thunder, they don't stop. An impressive rally late in the game resulted in a come from behind win for Oklahoma. The Lakers controlled the game until the end of the third quarter and then suddenly went completely limp on offense. Kobe went 1 for 10 in the fourth quarter, very un-mamba like.

With a boisterous crowd unrelenting in their support for the home team, the Thunder used their aggressiveness and speed to etch out a win. The Thunder had 22 more free throws then the Lakers and swarmed the paint again which resulted in LA settling for jump shots which they refused to make.

It's no surprise that Oklahoma won this with so much energy behind them and well balanced team effort. However I doubt they've rattled the champs who will come be looking for blood and believe me when I tell you Kobe won't miss in the next fourth quarter. Ever heard of the phrase don't poke the sleeping bear, well Oklahoma are poking fairly viciously and in the next game we will see if they've awoken the beast.

Blowouts Just Aren't Our Style

No matter what happened in the game it's a win, say it again with me, it's a win. A win that sent the Los Angeles Lakers 2-0 up against the Thunder.

With lack luster offensive play LA scraped out a win in the dying seconds of the game. Never really panicking but not truly inspiring either. The Lakers did what they always do and made the game more difficult than it needed to be. That in itself is quite a talent. Instead of repeating a solid performance of pounding the ball inside to the big men, they felt quite content to float up soft layups and poor shots that helped the Thunder acquire 17 blocked shots. Despite a lull in the end of the second quarter LA's defense stayed tight and kept them in the ball game while Kobe pulled the Lakers kicking and screaming to the other end to put the ball in the basket and keep LA in the game.

Despite the flaws it was good to see Kobe doing what he does best and scoring points. He looked a lot less troubled by the injuries that would bring mere mortals to their knees. Kobe was able to slice through the defense pick his shots and his elevation on the jump shots seemed much improved. You honestly didn't think that Kobe was going to become on non factor for the Lakers did you? Well, 39 points argues otherwise.

"After 13 years," smirked Bryant, "you think they'd know better."

Now it will be off to Okalahoma where the Thunder will be looking to impress their fans. LA seems to play particularly well in hostile grounds so Oklahoma shouldn't take anything too lightly. Oh yeah there is another guy who plays well against adversity, what is his name again?

This Be The House Of Bynum!

There's one in the pocket, LA controlled Oklahoma to win the first game of the series. In any series Jackson has coached when he wins the first game he has always won the series.

It turns out that the warnings about Bynum were correct, who went out onto the court and established himself, making it perfectly clear whose court the Thunder were trespassing upon. An early warning sent by Bynum straight into Jeff Green's chest set the tone for the rest of the game.

The Lakers did an outstanding job making the Thunder feel as uncomfortable as possible and did it with Kobe severely out of rhythm resulting in a poor shooting night. Don't worry about Kobe it's still early, he'll be fine.

If the Lakers keep this type of play going the Thunder will be unceremoniously removed from the playoffs very quickly.

Keep that quiet confidence going Laker fans and hold your head up high, it's looking good.