LAKERS-Thunder Halftime Post

OKC 60 LAL 53

Welcome in to the halftime post of the Lakers' matchup vs. the Oklahoma City Thunder where the Thunder have a 60-53 lead at the half.

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Kobe Bryant, 9 points, 4-9 shooting. Sitting out a couple of games due to a shoulder injury must have done wonders for the Black Mamba in this back-to-back set of games. Kobe put up a throwback performance on the road last night and he's following it up with potentially another one at home. Particularly in the 2nd quarter, he had his arsenal of moves and footwork on display for the Staples Center crowd and most of those resulted in made impossible shots that we're used to seeing when he was in his prime. For the most part, looks like there's no rust from sitting out and he's shaking off the rust from being long gone in back-to-back seasons because his bounce looked good out there.

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Offensive rebounding. The Thunder have had 10 offensive rebounds compared to the Lakers' mere 3. Clearly, the Lakers need some hustlers and big bodies that can box out for the rebound to finish off a defense. It was very frustrating that the Lakers are playing good defense against this potent Thunder team and their offense lead by KD and Westbrook, but they just can't finish by boxing out and getting a defensive rebound. They can't afford to let the Thunder have 2nd chance opportunities because they are just too good.

Turnovers. This category is another "gimme" the Lakers are giving to the Thunder. Though the Thunder have 7 turnovers compared to the Lakers' 6, the Thunder can easily pick up points because of how they push the ball and set up the fast-paced tempo. Likely, Westbrook is not going to have a missed dunk again, so the Lakers need to take care of the ball. I'm looking at Clarkson in particular because like the Kings game, he's trying to do too much and just like that, the ball gets slapped from him leading to easy points.

Bottom Line

As long as Durant and Westbrook are on the floor, the Thunder will have their way against this Lakers team. Defensively, the Lakers have to make someone other than those two to make points for the Thunder. As for the offense, if they can get some 2nd chance possessions and limit the turnovers, the Lakers will give the Thunder even more of a run for their money. Let's see what happens.