The much anticipated game one between Thunder and the Lakers turned out to be a major disappointment as OKC ran riot on a visibly fatigues Los Angeles side to hand them a 29 point thrashing.
On Monday night at the Chesapeake Energy Arena, Oklahoma City Thunder led by the hot shooting of Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant jumpstarted their Western Conference semi-final series against the Los Angeles Lakers by pouncing
to a 119-90 victory in Game 1.
Westbrook played for only the first three quarters and finished the game, flirting with triple double figures of 27 points, 9 assists and 7 rebounds in the contest. Durant followed him up with 25 points on an 8-for-16 shooting
night to go along with 8 boards in the game.
James Harden came off the bench to record 17 points and while Thabo Sefolosha only managed 7 points, his main contribution was his immaculate defence on Kobe Bryant, forcing him to commit 3 turnovers on the night.
Kobe managed to score 20 points for the Lakers while Andrew Bynum recorded a double-double with 20 points and 14 rebounds. Pau Gasol managed 10 points and Metta World-Peace managed to add 12.
The key to winning this game with a huge margin lied mainly with the Thunder defence to go along with their ability to hand the ball well in the game, OKC forced the Lakers to commit 15 turnovers on the night while only committing
4 turnovers themselves. They also managed to shoot the ball 53% from the field while holding the Lakers to connect on 43.2% of their shots.
Thunder set the tone early in the matchup when Westbrook stole the ball on the first possession and dished it out to Sefolosha on the other end for an easy layup. Even though Metta answered back with a three pointer, on the other
end, Durant ran through a back screen to dunk the ball with his left ball right on Peace.
Till midway point in the first quarter, the action remained close and there wasn’t anything to separate the two teams with the scores tied at 18. OKC however closed out the rest of the proceeding with a 12-5 burst and led 30-23
after the first quarter.
Inside the opening 5 minutes of the second quarter, Thunder were able to extend their advantage into double figures and never had to look back for the rest of the night. They maintained their lead throughout the rest of the half
and by the end of it were leading 59-44.
The third quarter saw the OKC team completely assert their authority on the ball game by opening with a 15-2 run. However the run saw Kendrick Perkins limping back down the court after aggravating his hip injury and had to be taken
to the locker room for further examination.
Nevertheless, OKC did not let it get in their way as they continued to outscore, outhustle and dominate the Lakers in every aspect of the game. Their ability to prolong the advantage above the 30 point mark on numerous occasions
was a mere proof of their dominance in the contest. Before the start of the fourth quarter, OKC led 98-68.
This ample lead allowed the Thunder to rest some of their key players like Durant and Westbrook in the fourth quarter. Even though this allowed the Lakers bench to pick up some slack late in the game but OKC`s huge advantage was
insurmountable as they took this game by a margin of 29 points.
Tags: