How New-Look Los Angeles Lakers Are Designed to Beat Oklahoma City Thunder

If you're looking to blame someone (or more than someone) for the Los Angeles Lakers' "Extreme Makeover: Superstar Edition" this summer, you'd do well to start with the Oklahoma City Thunder. After all, it was the eventual Western Conference champions who ousted the Purple and Gold from the postseason in five games, thereby sparking the internal processes that resulted in the arrivals of Steve Nash and Dwight Howard.

With those two All-Stars on board, along with the likes of Antawn Jamison and Jodie Meeks coming off the bench, the Lakers are (or, rather, should be) better equipped than ever to handle the NBA's youngest powerhouse.

Not that the Lakers were necessarily all that far off to begin with. L.A. only managed to win one game out of five against OKC in the playoffs, but the Lakers came closer to making a true series of it than a cursory glance might suggest. 

There's no ignoring the carnage from the 119-90 trouncing in Game 1. The 16-point margin in Game 5 can be explained away as the inevitable result of the young Thunder going for the jugular against a Lakers squad that had given its all—and come up short—on tired legs in Game 4.

But Games 2, 3 and 4 all were essentially up for grabs. The Lakers squandered a seven-point lead with two minutes to play in Game 2 and a 13-point advantage with eight minutes left in Game 4. They pulled out a victory in Game 3, so it's not as though they were entirely overmatched against OKC's 20-something Big Three of Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and James Harden.

 

Doin' Work on Perk



What worked for L.A.? Size and pace. The Lakers succeeded when they pounded the ball inside, limited possessions and didn't allow the Thunder to run.

The addition of Dwight Howard certainly should help in this regard. As good as Andrew Bynum was as a low-post scorer, he hardly was a force to be reckoned with in that series. His...