NBA Playoffs 2012: LA Lakers’ Takeaways from Game 2 Loss to OKC Thunder

The Lakers dropped to 0-2 following their heartbreaking 77-75 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder. Los Angeles controlled the ball and the score for a majority of the fourth quarter, but collapsed in the final two minutes due to a series of missed shots and turnovers. 

Here are a few takeaways from the Lakers’ loss. 

 

Horrendous Three-Point Shooting 

The Lakers continued to struggle from three-point land on Wednesday night, going 2-for-15. In case your computation skills are as bad as the Lakers’ shooting, that’s a mere 13 percent from deep. 

Kobe Bryant led the atrocious exhibit, going 0-for-6. 

The Lake Show will have to prove their ability to hit shots from the Promised Land if they plan on pushing the Thunder to the brink of elimination.

 

Inside Dominance 

The silver lining in all of this may have been the dominance of Lakers bigs in the paint. Andrew Bynum, Pau Gasol and Jordan Hill made nearly 54 percent of their shots in and around the painted area. Bynum received significantly more touches than in Game 1 and was much more assertive, although not quite as efficient. 



L.A.’s dominance inside the key was also partially due to their control of the glass and activity on the offensive boards. The Lakers’ frontcourt had 13 offensive rebounds in all, converting seven of the extra opportunities into points. Hill was especially impressive, grabbing three offensive rebounds and capitalizing on two of them himself.

 

Better Defense

Another positive from the Lakers’ nauseating breakdown was the fact that they played much better all-around team defense. 

L.A. improved leaps and bounds from Game 1. Bynum and Gasol showed more effort defending the pick-and-roll, resulting in fewer made mid-range jumpers. Russel...

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