Andrew Bynum’s claim of knowing how to stop OKC Thunder proving to be false – NBA News
Los Angeles Lakers star centre Andrew Bynum said before their playoff game 3 clash at the Staples Center that his team knows how to slow down the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Bynum had said this in retrospective of the game 2 performance of the Lakers against the Thunder. Although the Lakers lost that game, they were able to contain the Thunder to just 77 points, who had the 2nd
best offense in the league in the regular season with 107.1 points from 100 possessions. Russell Westbrook shot 5 of 17 in that game 2 victory, while Durant was also considerably controlled with 22 points. The Thunder shot 42% from the field, which is below
their season average.
“I don’t think we have many pieces to pick up. We know exactly how to defend them now and offensively making them pay for just being over-aggressive” said Bynum to the Los Angeles Times.
Bynum may have been right in having figured out a strategy for the Thunder but it is not easy executing it in game 3, particularly after the Thunder will have a chance to study their game 2 win. And as expected,
the Thunder have made the necessary changes here in game 3.
Game 3 is in progress as we speak, and by half time there were no signs of the Thunder slowing down. After trailing 15-23 after the first quarter, the Thunder came out firing on all cylinders to score 32 points
in the 2nd quarter alone, while holding the Lakers to 27 and trailing by only 3. They then came out of the half time to outscore the Lakers 13-6 early in the 3rd period. Durant already has 17 points off a 7 of 13 shooting and Westbrook
has 16, going 5 of 13 from the field.
If the Lakers want to stop the Thunder, they need to execute the game plan Bynum was talking about and need to do it fast as the Thunder are gaining momentum again in the game and if it continues, we might see
another blowout in Los Angeles.
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