Lakers in the News: Postgame: "Thunder deny Lakers, take 3-1 series lead"

[Cha*n]

Kobe Bryant refusing to back down against Oklahoma City

By Mark Medina

May 19, 2012, 12:48 p.m.
So, the Thunder want to force Kobe Bryant out of his game.

Oklahoma City will double and triple team him to limit his dominance. The Thunder hopes the strategy will force him into a role as facilitator. The brash and aggressive combination of James Harden and Thabo Sefolosha try to goad the Lakers' star into needlessly throwing up shots.

Oh, it works sometimes. Only three days ago, Bryant's fourth-quarter disappearance gave the Thunder a second victory in the Western Conference best-of-seven semifinal series. But in the Lakers' 99-96 win Friday over the Thunder in Game 3, Bryant proved once again that he's not backing down.

His 36 points on nine-of-25 shooting showed he might stumble the same way he jokingly did when he collapsed on the podium and proclaimed, "My bones aren't as flexible as they used to be." Yet, he still appears willing to take some unsuccsesful charges despite proclamations earlier this week that he doesn't stoop to that level.

[Cha*n]

OKC Thunder must dictate the pace in Game 4 against Lakers

Kobe Bryant said it was all about tempo. In Game 4 on Saturday night, the Thunder must figure out a way to again dictate the pace in order to regain momentum and grab complete control of this series.

By darnell mayberry | Published: May 19, 2012

LOS ANGELES— Kobe Bryant said it was all about tempo.

“That’s two games in a row that we controlled the tempo,” the Lakers guard said following his team’s Game 3 win Friday night. “We did a good job of controlling the pace of the game and being physical.”

Now, in Game 4 on Saturday night inside Staples Center, the Thunder must figure out a way to again dictate the pace. That’s the key for Oklahoma City to regain momentum and grab complete control of this series.

The Thunder knows it and the Lakers do, too.

Bryant was blunt when asked if the Lakers, on less than 24 hours rest, will again be able to play with the same intensity and physicality Saturday night.

[Cha*n]

Role Reversal for Fisher in Trying to End Lakers’ Playoff Run
By HOWARD BECK
Published: May 19, 2012

LOS ANGELES — The curtain dropped, dramatic music thumped, and a blur of highlights played across the tapestry hanging over the Staples Center court. Then, three words: “Time marches on.”
Enlarge This Image

As if the Los Angeles Lakers needed any reminders.

At the time of that stirring introduction Friday night, the Lakers were staring at a 2-0 deficit in the Western Conference semifinals. The Oklahoma City Thunder looked younger, springier and hungrier.

Time had dulled the Lakers’ luster and withered their championship core.

And one of their most important figures of the last decade was on the opposite bench, wearing a powder-blue No. 37 jersey. Derek Fisher — veteran of five Laker championships, author of countless clutch shots, confidant to Kobe Bryant — was making his Staples playoff debut as an opponent.

“It’s just very strange,” Bryant would say later, after leading the Lakers to a gritty 99-96 victory. “I’m used to having him in the locker room. I’m used to hearing his voice, saying things that he and I have talked about, in terms of the direction of the team and what the team needs to hear, and then he vocalizes it. And I don’t have that.”

Does he miss Fisher?

“Of course.”

[Cha*n]

Lakers try to even series with Thunder

Published May 19, 2012

The Los Angeles Lakers were seconds away from facing an insurmountable 3-0 deficit against the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference semifinals. Now their 48 minutes away from tying the series in a rare back-to-back postseason contest.

That's how quickly things can turn in the NBA playoffs.
With both the Lakers and Clippers still in the NBA postseason, and the Los Angeles Kings in the NHL's Western Conference finals, Staples Center has a full slate this weekend.

Last night's Lakers win started things. The Clippers host San Antonio on Saturday afternoon with the Lake-show and Thunder to follow. The Kings will then try to eliminate Phoenix on Sunday afternoon before the Spurs and Clips tangle again Sunday night.
Kobe Bryant scored eight of his team's final 10 points on Friday as the Lakers willed their way to a 99-96 win over the Thunder in Game 3 of their set.

Bryant finished with 36 points on 9-of-25 shooting and made all 18 of his free throws, including a pair with 33.8 seconds left which put Los Angeles on top for good.

[Cha*n]

Lakers invest much to win Game 3, but Saturday could be age-old issue

By Jeff Miller / The Orange County Register (MCT)
Saturday, May 19, 2012

LOS ANGELES — It’s almost impossible to comprehend, the abilities possessed by some of these Oklahoma City players.

The leaping of Serge Ibaka. The elusiveness of Kevin Durant. The speed that permits Russell Westbrook to go from zero to 60 — feet — in roughly the duration of a sneeze.


But watching the Lakers share the court with these guys Friday night in Game 3, it was easy to understand the awesome power all that collective skill brings.

The Thunder make Kobe Bryant look older than ever.

One of the greatest players in NBA history, Bryant, at times in this series, has looked like one of the grayest players of all-time.

So it was from this setting at Staples Center that Bryant rose again on his 33-year-old, 16th-NBA season legs and brought all his teammates along with him.

Bryant scored 36 points — half of them on free throws — made a key driving layup and four free throws late as the Lakers won, 99-96, taking a game they only absolutely couldn’t afford to lose.

[kobe.f.bryant]

kobe backs down too much

[Cha*n]

Thunder deny Lakers, take 3-1 series lead

LOS ANGELES - It's a weekend to remember at Los Angeles' Staples Center, with six playoff games in four days, and Saturday, with the four best teams in the NBA's Western Conference on display, was looking very much like a day for the aged.

Until the last eight minutes of the nightcap, which was owned by Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant and the youthful Oklahoma City Thunder.

Bryant and the Lakers held a 13-point lead with eight minutes to go, and had everything going their way before Westbrook, who scored 37, and Durant, who scored 31, including a go-ahead three-pointer with 13.7 seconds left, led the Thunder to a late comeback and a 103-100 victory.

The way the Lakers played for the first 40 minutes Saturday night, they suddenly looked like a team that could be playing a while longer and not so much like the team in disarray that, quite recently, lost a combined four out five playoff games to the Denver Nuggets and Thunder.

Well, forget all that. They are officially in disarray again.

Game 5 is Monday, back in Oklahoma City.

[Cha*n]

Thunder steal Game 4 victory from Lakers with 13-point comeback

Russell Westbrook scores nine consecutive points in the fourth quarter to spark Oklahoma City's rally before Kevin Durant hits a three-pointer with 13 seconds left for a 103-100 victory and 3-1 series lead.

By Mike James

May 19, 2012, 10:15 p.m.
Kevin Durant made a three-point basket with just more than 13 seconds to play to carry the Oklahoma City Thunder to a 103-100 comeback victory over the Lakers in a critical Game 4 of their Western Conference semifinal series at Staples Center on Saturday night.

Durant scored 11 of his 31 points in the fourth quarter when the Thunder overcame a 13-point deficit to take a three-games-to-one lead in the best-of-seven series, with Game 5 heading back to Oklahoma City on Monday.

The game was reminiscent of the Thunder’s comeback victory over the Lakers in Game 2 in Oklahoma City.

Russell Westbrook, who led the Thunder comeback effort in the fourth, led all Oklahoma City scorers with 37 points.

Kobe Bryant, who scored 15 points in the third quarter, nearly willed the Lakers to victory with 38 points, but he couldn’t stall the Thunder comeback.

[Cha*n]

Thunder rally past Lakers, take 3-1 series lead

By GREG BEACHAM | The Associated Press – 7 minutes ago...

LOS ANGELES (AP) With Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant engineering yet another late comeback, the Oklahoma City Thunder pushed Kobe Bryant to the brink.

Westbrook scored 10 of his 37 points during a stirring fourth-quarter rally, Durant added 31 points and hit the tiebreaking 3-pointer with 13.7 seconds left, and the Thunder seized control of the second-round series with a 103-100 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 4 on Saturday night.

Serge Ibaka scored 14 points and the second-seeded Thunder took a 3-1 series lead with a rally from a 13-point deficit in the final 8 minutes, moving one win away from their second straight trip to the Western Conference finals.

''Everybody kept fighting,'' Westbrook said. ''We all believed in each other. It's the playoffs. You can't afford to sit back and wonder about it.''

[Cha*n]

Thunder rally past Lakers, take 3-1 series lead

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- With Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant engineering yet another late comeback, the Oklahoma City Thunder pushed Kobe Bryant to the brink.

Westbrook scored 10 of his 37 points during a stirring fourth-quarter rally, Durant added 31 points and hit the tiebreaking 3-pointer with 13.7 seconds left, and the Thunder seized control of the second-round series with a 103-100 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 4 on Saturday night.

Serge Ibaka scored 14 points and the second-seeded Thunder took a 3-1 series lead with a rally from a 13-point deficit in the final 8 minutes, moving one win away from their second straight trip to the Western Conference finals.

"Everybody kept fighting," Westbrook said. "We all believed in each other. It's the playoffs. You can't afford to sit back and wonder about it."

Game 5 is Monday night in Oklahoma City.

Oklahoma City improved to 7-1 in the postseason with a tenacious rally on the second night of back-to-back games against the Lakers and Bryant, who scored 38 points but struggled in the fourth quarter of Los Angeles' fifth loss in seven games. After Durant put the Thunder ahead with his shot-clock-draining 3-pointer, Kobe couldn't match it with 10 seconds left.