Kevin Durant stars in the Oklahoma City Thunder’s 120 – 106 win over the sliding Los Angeles Lakers
Kevin Durant scored 31 points as the Oklahoma City Thunder shoved off the Los Angeles Lakers with a 120 – 106 win at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on Sunday. Durant went 11-of-15 and the Thunder shot 55.6 percent from the floor to hand the Lakers their
fifth straight loss.
"The measure of success is what you've just recently accomplished," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. "Right now, we're back in the middle of the pack."
Russell Westbrook added 26 points and seven assists, while James Harden added 16 points off the bench.
OKC came blazing out of the gate as they made seven of their eight shots to start the game and took a 15 – 9 lead early in the first quarter. Russell Westbrook was fouled by Kobe Bryant on a three-point attempt with 7:35 on the clock. He drilled all three
free-throws and followed it up with a 3-point jump-shot to stretch the OKC lead to 21 – 11.
Pau Gasol responded with nine points, and Bryant had a layup and a dunk to match the cameo from Westbrook and Durant. Westbrook added 16 points in the 12 minute period as Oklahoma City led 36 – 31 at the end of the first quarter.
James Harden started out the second period with 7 straight-points for the Thunder to extend the lead to nine points.
Just when it seemed all but over for the Lakers, they found something to rally around. Bryant and Kendrick Perkins got tangled up with each other on a play at the free-throw line with 5:21 left in from the first half. They kept talking and pushing and had
to be restrained by the players and officials. Both players were assessed a personal and a technical foul.
“It happens, guys getting tangled up, guys are in the flow of the game. One thing about Kobe, he's a physical guy and he's not going to back down. It's nothing personal, nothing to that nature. We just got tangled up,” Perkins said.
The incident was all that was needed to fire up the Lakers. Led by strong performances by Bryant and Andrew Bynum, the Lakers sparked off a 20 -11 run and closed in to make it a two-point game heading into the half-time break.
Derek Fisher’s jump-shot at the 6:03 mark gave the Lakers their first lead of the game. They played some good strong defence on the Thunder and forced them into committing turnovers. The Lakers put in a spirited performance to end the last quarter with a
90 – 88 advantage.
The fourth quarter, however, was a different story altogether.
After Bryant converted a 3-point play to restore a one point lead for the Lakers at the 3:10 mark, the Thunder responded with a counter-punch that knocked out Los Angeles for good. The Thunder went on a 17 – 2 run in the final minutes to put their stamp
all over the game and hand the Lakers another huge loss at the Staples Center.
The downfall for Los Angeles was the nine times they turned the ball over in the fourth quarter, after committing one turnover the whole game.
Kobe Bryant scored 31 points, Pau Gasol had 26 points and Andrew Bynum put up 12 points and 13 rebounds for the Lakers.
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