Thunder Takes it Away From Lakers, 103-100
This is the toughest blog I’ve had to write this season. After the blowout in Game One, the Lakers outplayed the Thunder for three straight games, winning only one of them. So now it’s 3-1 with Game Five tomorrow in Oklahoma City.
You could see this one coming. That 13-point lead with 7:49 left faded slowly and painfully. Basketball fans around the world will have to tip their hat to Russell Westbrook, whose young legs (despite a bad fall just before the half) and sheer talent couldn’t be denied. Ditto Kevin Durant.
Despite the odds, the fatigue, the road, and the history that the Lakers now have to contend with, only a fool would count them out, and I ain’t that fool. To count them out would be to seriously misjudge the most resilient, the most unpredictable and the most interesting team in the NBA.
The Lakers won the first two quarters and lost the last two quarters. They scored 29 points in the first quarter, then 27 in the 2nd, 24 in the 3rd and 20 in the 4th. That kind of tells the story. The stats say they ran out of gas. But there’s much more to it. Sure, pundits will point to the age difference . The Lakers starters average age 29; the Thunder’s, age 24. Given about equal talent, and in this case there is, the younger team will come on stronger in the last 7:49 of the fourth quarter in the second game of a back-to-back playoff game.
And then there’s the poor shooting. The Thunder shot better from the field, from the 3-point line and, most significantly, the foul line. After shooting 98% the night before, the Lakers shot 72% last night. And as was the case last night, respectable or even very good wasn’t good enough. It had to be great again, and wasn’t. In fact, the game was lost on the line. The Thunder missed four foul shots; the Lakers missed eight. The Lakers lost by three. End of arithmetic segment.
Yeah, you could go on and on but, having followed this team all season, I think the number one problem, as well as the real reason the Lakers lost last night, is Mike Brown. Mike Brown is so far over his head that it’s ridiculous. He’s a defensive-minded coach when the Lakers need an offensive-minded coach. He’s a bureaucrat, a lifer who will never make waves, when the Lakers (a brilliant collection of head cases—I mean, c’mon) need a leader, a coach who is above all of the bullshit and who doesn’t care if he’s fired. (Off the top of my head, along the lines of Hubie Brown, or Larry Brown. Just not Mike Brown.)
Probably his biggest sin, last night and for the last few weeks, is playing Steve Blake over Ramon Sessions. Last night Sessions actually played more minutes than Blake—32 to 24—but was not on the floor for the final devastating minutes. So we’re led to believe that Mike Brown thinks the Lakers have a better chance of winning with Blake. That alone is grounds for firing Mike Brown.
With Blake handling the ball there is very little offensive thrust. He can’t put the ball on the floor and create his shot, and he can’t penetrate and get into the paint to shoot or dish. Sessions can do all that. Blake has his moments, of course, but it’s not even close. I’d love to know what Mitch Kupchak thinks of his coach sitting down Sessions during crunch time (in virtually every game) after Kupchak dealt for Sessions just before the deadline in a move that was supposed to transform the Lakers offense—and actually did when Brown let him.
What grates is that Sessions, who usually starts, had a great first half when he got most of his 10 points and five assists. He was aggressive and played in rhythm. Thus his absence in the fourth quarter when the team really needed him was glaring.
Andrew Bynum likewise had a nice first half. Though he finished the game with 18 points, (and a fine all-around nine rebounds, four assists, three blocked shots, two steals and no turnovers), he had 14 points in the first 14 minutes. He played 42 minutes, so in the following 28 minutes he scored four more points. He took one shot in the fourth quarter! That’s on Mike Brown. It’s his job to put a stop to nonsense like that.
Kobe had 38 points (12-28 from the field, eight rebounds and five assists) but was 1-9 in the fourth quarter, not counting the meaningless basket right at the buzzer. A few of those shots were forced, ill-conceived, ill-timed–have I left anything out?
The one play that stands out to me more than any other was toward the end when Pau passed up a pretty easy shot and threw a crazy cross-court pass back out to whoever that was picked off by Durant. Kobe had just hit both free throws to tie the game, 98-98. Westbrook had brought the ball up but lost it and the Lakers had possession with :50 to go. The ball came to Pau, at :35, and he had an open look pretty close to the hoop, on the right side, just out of the paint–a 12-footer. He looked at the hoop, rejected the idea, then threw the ball away. Durant went down and hit a 3-point dagger. I don’t think it’s far-fetched to say that Mike Brown was behind Pau’s failure to launch. All year long, the critics have called him soft and Mike Brown didn’t do enough to convince Pau that the critics were wrong.
Onward to Oklahoma, where the wind comes sweeping down the plain, and the waving wheat can sure smell sweet when the wind comes right behind the rain. Thanks for indulging me. If the local lads can pull off a major upset and win tomorrow night, this puppy will return to Los Angeles, and if…
Mike Brown or not, the Lakers still have a shot. It’s too late to give up on themselves now. Full speed ahead, baby. Pedal to the metal. Win or go down swinging.