Alright welcome in to the full recap for today's game between the Lakers and the Thunder where the Lakers have brought the energy and intensity today to upset the Thunder 110-114, redeeming from the last February game where the Lakers choked on the lead the last time these two clubs met and they learned from that and managed to finally get a little sweet redemption at Staples against the Thunder.
What I thought when the Thunder jumped to an 11 point lead at the end of the 1st quarter, I was like here we go again, we're going to get another ass kicking from one the contending teams in the West, especially against the Thunder, when you're up against the best team in the West, there is no room for error. The Lakers responded the last three quarters, gave a scare in the fourth and they managed to pull it off.
The Positives
Jodie Meeks, 42 points on 11-18 shooting, 6-11 beyond the arc, 14-14 from the charity stripe and 4 steals. Overall, just a fantastic game from Meeks, his activity this game was all over the place and I mean that in a good way. He managed to disrupt Russell Westbrook enough on defense, very good shot selection, he made the extra decision when he needed too, and I tell you guys, once Meeks is hot, he's hot. After this game, I don't care how poorly the Lakers have played all season, like I said in the halftime post, Meeks is my dark horse candidate for the Most Improved Player award. Besides Gasol (of course Gasol has been the constant and had another good game today), Meeks has been playing phenomenal this season. He's not just the stand behind the three line and shoot away player like he has been the last couple seasons in the NBA, he has expanded his game, using his speed to penetrate and create very high percentage shots and he's also a very underrated defender.
Jordan Farmar, 12 points, 4-9 shooting, 3-4 beyond the arc. Farmar came alive at the right time during the 2nd half, coming up with big shots as Meeks looked like he was getting cold at the final minutes of the 3rd and continued on in the 4th. Farmar played decent off the bench.
Ryan Kelly, 12 points, 8 assists. The activity of Ryan Kelly has been everywhere today. I give some credit to Mike D'Antoni for putting Kelly back in the starting lineup because he's starting to rebuild some of that confidence and he showed me not only he can score, he can facilitate. His one pass to Meeks, off balance looked like he was going force it up, nice last minute decision to find the cutting Meeks for a reverse layup. Kelly also displayed some defensive game too, having 2 nice blocks and helping with the trap defense at the right time.
Kent Bazemore, 11 points, 7 rebounds. Bazemore is more on a limbo this game, but he made a couple of clutch shots to help the Lakers hold onto the lead. When OKC was going on a crazy run at the final minutes in the 4th, Kent Bazemore, hit a critical 3, a critical jumper, he was clutch this game, not to mention he got dunked on by Westbrook too when his dunk put the Thunder within 3. Give a lot of credit for Bazemore to come out, make a couple of big shots to help the Lakers pull away.
The Negatives
2nd chance points. If there is ever a reason what kept the Thunder alive this game even though the Lakers were outplaying them defensively and continued pushing, it was the offensive rebounds and 2nd chance points. The Thunder out-rebounded the Lakers 19-1, talk about a huge disparity. I was literally screaming at the TV and at Pau or anybody to at least get one defensive rebound to seal the victory. The Thunder were down to one timeout left, in my opinion, I thought Reggie Jackson stepped out before he called the Thunder's penultimate timeout because I think Pau and Marshall trapped him so hard. However, one timeout, you're letting them back in the game and they have a chance to come back and steal a game. That is what's basically hindered the Lakers from a flawless game against the Thunder, the lack of boxing out and giving the Thunder more chances to stay alive and potentially win this game, but lucky enough they were missing free throws, missing bad shots with questionable shot selection, and the Lakers were able to hold on and win.
Conclusion
Overall, the phrase "any given Sunday" applies to anywhere, not just in the NFL and the Lakers, despite having the worst record in the West pulled off a big upset today against the team with the best record in the West in the Thunder. As a Laker fan, I look at this as a pride and poise win, it's not a big win considering we're not in playoff contention, but it was for pride and they showed a lot of poise this game to knock OKC off. If I were a Thunder fan, I'd be concern with the style of play they've been playing at this stretch of the season. The Thunder they jump to a big lead and then they start taking their foot off the gas and play out of control to let opponents back in the game. And as a Thunder, I would be very concern because the #1 seed in the West is still a free for all, San Antonio is slowly knocking on the door with their ever consistent play, in fact San Antonio just claimed the #1 seed after this loss and then you have the Rockets and the Clippers coming from behind and both of those teams are hot right now. So legitimate chance OKC can drop at best to the #4 seed, if they keep playing like that and unless Portland gets it going again, they can snatch the Northwest Division away from the Thunder. Anyway thanks guys for reading the full recap. NFL free agency is just around the corner, either tonight or tomorrow, I'll give out my free agency preview for the Raiders. I'm out.
No comments:
Post a Comment