Kobe Bryant clutch as Los Angeles Lakers stun Oklahoma City Thunder in double O.T - NBA Recap Part 1
On Sunday night at the Staples Center, Los Angeles, CA, two of the Western Conference powerhouses went up against each other. The capacity crowd of 18997 got to witness some extra playing time as the Los Angeles
Lakers went on to take this one with a score of 114-106 in second overtime against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
After receiving a 24 point drubbing at the hands of the San Antonio Spurs in their last outing, the Lakers looked set to lose this one as well. But due to some late heroics of Kobe Bryant and company, they managed
to stay ahead in their search to clinch the Pacific Division title.
Bryant was having a poor night early on, but he managed to turn it all around in the second half. He finished the game with a team high of 26 points while also dishing out 8 assists in the game.
Pau Gasol finished the game with double-double figures of 20 points and 14 rebounds. Metta World-Peace was ejected from the game after he was hit with a flagrant 2 for elbowing James Harden in the face. He managed
to contribute 12 points before the exit.
Andrew Bynum, who had been the scoring force for the Lakers in Kobe's absence, finished the game with meagre figures of 10 points and 8 rebounds. Steve Blake and Jordan Hill came off the bench to contribute 13
and 14 points respectively.
Kevin Durant led the Thunder’s charge with a game high of 35 points. Serge Ibaka flirted with triple double statistics on the night as he finished the game with 18 points, 14 rebounds and 7 blocked shots.
Russell Westbrook accompanied Ibaka in double-double statistics as he finished with 14 points and 10 assists on the night. James Harden, who had to leave the game with concussion like symptoms after only playing
13:17 minutes, contributed 14 points on the night.
Lakers were dominating on the boards as they grabbed 67 rebounds as compared to the Thunder's 54. They were also very assertive from inside the key, outscoring OKC 56-42 in that department.
Both teams started the game off very well and the scores remained close throughout and were all square at 15 with 3:01 remaining. Harden scored 5 quick points within a minute to give the Thunder a 5 point lead.
By the end of the opening period, the Lakers were able to make it a one possession game. However on the last possession, Durant dropped a bomb from long range to make the score 26-20 in Oklahoma's favour.
Inside the opening 3 minutes of the second quarter, the Thunder, were able to stretch their advantage into double figures. Lakers cut the lead down to 9 on the next possession; however, Harden responded back
to hit two clutch free throws at the 8:29 mark to give Oklahoma a double digit lead again.
But the home side had the fight in them as they managed to put together a 9-0 run in the next several minutes to cut the lead down to 2 points. The advantage was further cut down to 1 point at the 1:39 mark.
In the final minute of the first half, Durant got 4 points for the Thunder, all of them coming from the free throw line to make the score 52-47 in Oklahoma's favour.
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