Los Angeles Lakers-Oklahoma City Thunder: Thoughts on Game Two

Yesterday’s Lakers-Thunder game was the only competitive—or interesting—game of the night. It came down to the last possession, where a missed three pointer at the buzzer gave Los Angeles the win. (Inexplicably, the shot was not taken by Durant. I totally don’t get that decision and I think we see decisions like it all too often.)

Both stars played well, with Durant scoring 32 points and Kobe with 39 points. As usual, Kobe posted many of his points in crunch time, scoring 15 in the fourth, while Durant seemed to disappear down the stretch. I can’t really blame Durant though, he’s young, it’s his first playoff experience, and it takes time to learn how to be a closer.

Let’s go over a few thoughts I had while watching this game.

Oklahoma City Thunder Looked Nervous

This team definitely still looks nervous to me, and I don’t blame them. They really got an intimidating first round matchup, and even if they could beat the Lakers, that last team meeting couldn’t have been encouraging.

"Alright guys, I know for almost all of you this is your first playoff experience, but don’t worry. Sure we are going on the road, against the defending champs, who have, arguably, one of the top ten best players of all time, two seven-footers, and tons of playoff experience. But if you play hard, and don’t think about the tremendous odds against you, or the enormous stage that you, as a small market team, are suddenly thrust upon, then I’m sure you can win one or two games…maybe?”

Either way, the nerves were showing as Oklahoma City was consistently short-arming shots, especially during one stretch in the second quarter. They seemed to settle it down a bit as the game went on, but once Kobe got going in the fourth, they looked like they were getting a little nervous again.

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