The Lakers' 91-75 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Friday night was akin to viewing a horrible movie which is played constantly despite the poor quality. Soul Plane comes to mind.
Pau Gasol and Kobe Bryant downplayed the loss to the Thunder, but under the circumstances it probably is better to move on to the next game, because there were very few positives to draw from this one.
Bryant had nine turnovers, Gasol was called out by coach Phil Jackson for his soft play, and none of the Laker guards were able to prevent Russell Westbrook from getting in the lane whenever he desired.
Regardless of which player took turns guarding Westbrook, he simply adjusted for speed or height, and continued his various uncontested forays to the rim.
The Thunder built their lead to 33 points, and the only drama in the fourth quarter was whether or not the Lakers would be able to crack the 70 point barrier and avoid their lowest point output of the season.
I guess you could call that a moral victory, because there were few physical victories the Lakers could claim as Westbrook did his best Aaron Brooks impersonation in destroying Los Angeles with 23 points.
Laker fans are very familiar with Brooks because he almost single-handedly led his Houston Rockets to what would have been the biggest upset in recent playoff history.
Brooks exposed the major weakness in the Lakers' scheme, and despite being terribly under-manned, the Rockets turned out to be the biggest challenge in the Lakers' 2009 championship run.
If there is one single flaw which could spell doom for Los Angeles in their quest for a repeat it is most definitely their inability to defend smaller, quicker gua...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Los Angeles Lakers
