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NBA Playoff Notes: Lakers not thinking panic button yet

by Dave Jacober       May 17th, 2012 2:43 PM
  • NBA-Playoff-Notes-Lakers-not-thinking-panic-button-yet
  • Credit: Mark D. Smith-US PRESSWIRE

    • After the Los Angeles Lakers essentially gave away Game 2 against the Oklahoma City Thunder in OKC, you would have thought by the perpetual overreaction on Twitter that the series was effectively over. The argument against the Lakers was obvious: they’re too old, OKC is too good, the Lakers can't win back-to-back games, yada yada yada. Then of course there was the argument for the Lakers: Kobe has five rings, so of course they can come back, which is a little bit like the ultimate soccer mom argument.

    The Thunder are the 2001 version of the Best Picture award. Sure you could poke little holes in A Beautiful Mind, but was Monster's Ball really going to contend? They are the best team in the NBA, period. Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, and James Harden, combined with the ultimate of role guys in Serge Ibaka, Kendrick Perkins, Nick Collison, Thabo Sefolosha and even Daequan Cook, all give the Thunder a unique ability to defend the rim and put mammoth amounts of pressure on teams offensively.

    Still, does that mean that the series is effectively over? The stats say no. During the season the Lakers had winning streaks of 3, 5, 2, and 4 games, all over a condensed time frame. And while the Thunder took two out of the three games in the season series and were able to hold the Lakers to an OFF EFF of 92.8 — down almost ten points from their season rating of 101.5 — the Lakers still haven’t found their shooting legs yet. For the series they are shooting a putrid 24 percent from three, down from their season average of 35 percent. OKC, on the other hand, has made their bones from mid-range and beyond the arc, with their rate up ten percent. So what if the Thunder go cold from the field and the Lakers heat up?

    Aside from James Harden, the Thunder seem content to jack up jumpers to their heart’s content. The Lakers also haven't gotten a pure signature Kobe game. The Thunder have held the Mamba to 16-44 shooting through two games thus far, and on the flip-side, LA just can't find away to keep Russell Westbrook in front of them.

    To suggest that the Lakers can't force a Game 7 in the series is a bit far fetched. And is there any team not named San Antonio that you would feel more confident in a Game 7 on the road?

    stats provided by NBA.com

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