Oklahoma City Thunder clean up the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 5 – Statistical Comparison
Oklahoma City Thunder will a return trip to the Western Conference Finals in four days time after wrapping up their Western Conference series against the Los Angeles Lakers in spectacular fashion with a 106-90
in Game 5, here at the Chesapeake Energy Arena on Monday night.
Russell Westbrook led the way with a total of 28 points, with 12 of them coming in the third quarter. He also had 4 assists and 2 steals to his name and was very much responsible for starting a game winning 27-7
run spanning late third quarter and the first two minutes of the fourth.
Kevin Durant was not far behind as he notched up a double-double performance on the night with 25 points and 10 rebounds. Serge Ibaka added 8 with 3 blocks; Kendrick Perkins scored 6 and grabbed 11 rebounds while
Thabo Sefolosha chipped in with 4 points in the ball game.
The bench scoring for the Thunder was led by James Harden who finished the night off with 17 points, 8 rebounds and 4 assists and Nick Collison came off the bench to contribute 6 points and 6 rebounds.
For the Lakers, Kobe Bryant led the way with an astounding number of 42 points, taking 33 of the total 75 shots at the rim for the Lakers. But despite converting 18 of them, the LA unit came up way too short.
Metta World Peace added 11 points and Ramon Sessions chipped in 8.
The two big men for the Lakers got into double figures; however the twin towers lacked assertiveness down low in the post. Pau Gasol racked up 14 points on a poor 5-of-14 shooting and collected 16 boards in the
game whereas Andrew Bynum contributed only 10 points and 4 rebounds on the night.
The key to winning for the Thunder lied in their ability to clean up the glass on both ends. They outrebounded the Lakers 51-35 in the game and were also able to collect 14 rebounds on the offensive end which
reaped benefits for them. One major fact that got highlighted throughout the series and again showed on the night was the lack of offensive ability in the LA squad.
With the exception of Kobe Bryant, no other Laker was able to make his own shot, whereas OKC has not one but three offensive weapons in KD, Westbrook and Harden.
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