Thunder-Lakers Preview

Posted Jan 10 2013 5:16PM

The Los Angeles Lakers may not have any of their injured players back as the club tries to avoid its first six-game slide in six seasons.

The Oklahoma City Thunder will arrive in Los Angeles with some recent experience against short-handed teams.

The Thunder return to Staples Center for the first time since last season's playoffs Friday night when they try to add to the Lakers' woes as the Western Conference's top scorers - Kevin Durant and Kobe Bryant - again match up.

Los Angeles (15-20) completed a two-game trip earlier this week without Dwight Howard (shoulder), Pau Gasol (concussion) and Jordan Hill (hip). Howard and Hill will not play Friday while Gasol has not been ruled out.

Forwards Antawn Jamison and Earl Clark received more minutes in Tuesday's 125-112 loss to Houston and Wednesday's 108-105 defeat at San Antonio. Bryant scored 27 on Wednesday.

"We have lost five games in a row, it is pretty self explanatory," Bryant said. "We played very hard and I think we figured a few things out. We still have to straighten some things out on the defensive end but I feel like we competed and that was very important."

Los Angeles last dropped six in a row during a seven-game slide March 2-15, 2007.

The Lakers did not have Gasol or Steve Nash when they fell 114-108 at Oklahoma City on Dec. 7 in the lone previous matchup this season. Durant outscored Bryant 36-35, with Russell Westbrook adding 33 for the Thunder (27-8).

That was the teams' first meeting since last season's West semifinal series won by the Thunder in five games. Oklahoma City's last game at Los Angeles was a 103-100 victory in Game 4 when it rallied from a 13-point deficit with 8:02 left as Durant hit a tiebreaking 3-pointer with 14 seconds to go before Bryant missed his tying attempt on the Lakers' next possession.

The Thunder will be facing another opponent missing key players. They lost 101-99 at Washington on Monday even through the Wizards had three players out before bouncing back Wednesday for a 106-84 rout of a Minnesota team playing without All-Star forward Kevin Love and four other injured players.

Oklahoma City coach Scott Brooks mentioned before shootaround that Minnesota was in the same situation as Washington. Brooks could provide a similar theme for this game.

"Everybody locked in and focused in on Minnesota tonight," Brooks said. "I was glad they came out, and I knew they would. We've always been a team that takes pride in how we play, and they did tonight."

With Bryant averaging 30.1 points and Durant 28.1, it's not surprising that these teams are among the best in scoring with Oklahoma City averaging 105.4 and Los Angeles 103.2.

The Thunder figure to have an edge defensively in the paint with Howard and his 2.6 blocks per game out. Oklahoma City's Serge Ibaka is the only West player with a better average of 2.9 blocks.

Westbrook has averaged 21.8 points and 8.2 assists in his last six meetings with Nash - all wins for Oklahoma City - with the former Phoenix guard averaging 10.5 points and 9.2 assists in those defeats.

Durant, Thunder send Lakers to 6th straight loss

By GREG BEACHAM
Posted Jan 12 2013 2:27AM

LOS ANGELES (AP) Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook both realize they weren't facing the Los Angeles Lakers who recently won an NBA title. They weren't even facing the full talent of the Lakers' current roster, which hasn't been able to get much above .500 all season.

Running the Lakers out of their own building still feels pretty good, though.

Durant scored a season-high 42 points, Westbrook had 27 points and 10 assists, and the Oklahoma City Thunder easily sent the short-handed Lakers to their sixth straight loss, 116-101 on Friday night.

Kevin Martin scored 15 points and hit three 3-pointers for the Thunder, who romped to a 27-point lead in the second half. Oklahoma City has won seven of nine, while Los Angeles is on its first six-game skid since March 2007 while playing without injured stars Dwight Howard and Pau Gasol.

Oklahoma City (28-8) matched the Clippers for the NBA's best record - and the Thunder made it look easy with a virtuoso game from Durant, who had 38 points midway through the third quarter.

"Coming in here, it's tough to win no matter what," Durant insisted after the Thunder coasted down the stretch. "We did a great job of just playing together at both ends of the floor all night and not taking those guys lightly. They've got two of the best players in the world out, so we just wanted to come out and have a good game."

They had a bit more than a good game. Durant hit four 3-pointers and his usual array of athletic shots whenever he wanted, while Westbrook finished three rebounds shy of a triple-double while playing less than 35 minutes.

The Thunder only had three scorers in double figures, but that was more than enough.

Westbrook, a Los Angeles native, has no sympathy for the Lakers.

"They're not done. They have a lot more games left, and I'm pretty sure they're going to find a way to get it together," Westbrook said. "Our job is to worry about our team and our organization. It wasn't easy. I just think we did a good job of playing team basketball defensively, and it showed. Kevin took control most of the game."

Kobe Bryant scored 28 points and Antawn Jamison added 19 but Los Angeles looked lost and overmatched in its third straight game without Howard and Gasol.

The Thunder eliminated Bryant and the Lakers from last season's playoffs in five games, but Los Angeles has shown few signs of being able to compete with the defending Western Conference champions this season. Injuries aren't the only problem, but Howard likely is out for at least another week with a shoulder injury, while Gasol still hasn't been cleared to return from his concussion.

"We're just very frustrated and upset about what we're going through right now, and how we're playing," Bryant said. "We're going to have to make some big adjustments if we're going to be successful. We gave up about 120 points tonight, and a lot of them were just layups and easy looks at the rim."

Steve Nash had seven points and seven assists in a quiet 30 minutes for the Lakers, who announced during the second quarter that backup big man Jordan Hill likely needs season-ending surgery on his left hip. Metta World Peace added 12 points, going 1 for 9 on 3-point attempts.

"We showed some fight, but we just were a little overmatched," Nash said. "They're bigger than us at almost every position. Kevin got hot, and we couldn't contain him in the second quarter. As the game wore on, I just think the difference in depth and quality took over."

The Lakers (15-21) hadn't lost this many consecutive games since the year before they acquired Gasol and embarked on a run to three straight NBA finals. With Cleveland and Milwaukee visiting over the next four days, the Lakers have a chance to get competitive again - but they're facing an uphill climb just to get into playoff contention.

"I told the team, the biggest thing is our season starts Sunday," coach Mike D'Antoni said. "We've got to make a run. We've got one shot at it, and everybody needs to get ready mentally and physically. From there on, we can't make any more false steps. That's just how it is. We put ourselves in this ditch, and we're the only ones that can get it out, and hopefully we can get some guys back and start our season Sunday."

Durant scored 16 points in the second quarter, capped by a 3-pointer with 0.2 seconds left before halftime. Along with predictable defensive struggles against Durant and Westbrook, Los Angeles missed its first 12 3-point attempts before Nash connected midway through the third.

NOTES: Before the game, Bryant and his wife, Vanessa, announced they've called off their divorce proceedings. Vanessa Bryant filed for divorce in December 2011. ... The teams meet again at Staples Center on Jan. 27. Oklahoma City also visits to face the Clippers on Jan. 22. ... Charlize Theron, Adam Sandler, Robin Thicke, Floyd Mayweather Jr., Mehmet Oz and Chad Johnson watched the game from courtside.

Notebook: Thunder 116, Lakers 101

Dan Arritt, For NBA.com
Posted Sat Jan 12, 2013 2:18 AM - Updated Sat Jan 12, 2013 2:18 AM

THE FACTS: Right about the time the Lakers announced they'd be without one of their key reserves for the remainder of the season, the Thunder rubbed more salt in their wounds Friday night. Oklahoma City (28-8) exploded for 39 second-quarter points against an injury-riddled L.A. (15-21) team and rode a season-high 42-point performance by Kevin Durant to a 116-101 victory at Staples Center.

QUOTABLE: "Kevin [Durant] had a hot hand and they missed some shots. We have to put things in perspective; they have some of their best players not playing tonight and they're shorthanded."

--Thunder coach Scott Brooks

THE STAT: In the 416th game of his NBA career, Durant recorded at least 40 points for the 24th time. Lakers guard Kobe Bryant needed 469 games to hit that mark.

TURNING POINT: Despite having its starting frontcourt of Pau Gasol (concussion symptoms) and Dwight Howard (shoulder) on the shelf, the Lakers went toe-to-toe with the Thunder for the first 17 minutes, even outscoring Oklahoma City 11-0 to close out the opening quarter and get the score tied heading into the second. Then came news that Lakers backup forward Jordan Hill would need hip surgery, causing him to miss the remainder of the season, and everything seemed to go south for the Lakers from that point on. The Thunder went on a 9-2 burst to go ahead by 10 points, then followed with a 9-0 run to take a 59-45 with 1:23 remaining in the first half. The Lakers never got back within single digits.

HOT: Durant was 16-for-25 from the floor, just the sixth time in his six-year career he's made at least that many field goals in a game. It's the first time he's hit that number since last February, when he made a career-high 19 en route to career-best 51 points.

QUOTABLE II: "Kevin Durant was just unstoppable and we tried a little bit of everything on him. They were just longer, faster, better team-wise, and we crumbled away."

-- Lakers coach Mike D'Antoni

NOT: The Lakers missed their first 12 shots from 3-point range before finishing 6-for-28, continuing a trend of being woefully cold from beyond the arc on their home floor. In the last six games at Staples Center, they're 41-for-156 from 3-point range (26.3 percent). Individually, Metta World Peace went 1-for-9 on 3s, but that wasn't his ugliest number. He was a minus-34 in 35 minutes of play. As for the Thunder, they were uncharacteristically poor from the free-throw line, shooting 19-for-28 (67.9). They came in leading the league with an 84.5 percent success rate.

QUOTABLE III: "The first half, we were 0-for-11 and they were all wide open."

--Mike D'Antoni on his team's 3-point shooting

GOOD MOVE: Thunder point guard Russell Westbrook was only partially overshadowed by Durant, finishing with 27 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds. If he can continue to average at least 21 points, eight assists and five rebounds throughout the season, he would join LeBron James, Chris Paul and Gary Payton as the only NBA players to average those numbers for a season.

BAD MOVE: The Lakers just finished a five-game stretch against Western Conference teams that are ahead of them in the standings and L.A. lost all five, falling five games out of the eighth and final playoff spot. To reach 48 victories, the average number of playoff wins by the eighth seed the last five seasons, the Lakers will need to go 33-13 the rest of the way.

NOTABLE: The Lakers have lost six in a row for the first time since 2007. The Lakers and Magic are the only teams who haven't won a game in 2013. ... Bryant scored a team-high 28 points for the Lakers, but shot under 43 percent from the floor for the fourth consecutive game (8-for-23). He's still on pace to shoot better than 47 percent from the floor for the first time in his 17-year career. ... The Thunder led by as many as 27 points early in the fourth quarter.

UP NEXT: For the Lakers, Sunday vs. Cleveland, Tuesday vs. Milwaukee, Thursday vs. Miami. For the Thunder, Sunday @ Portland, Monday @ Phoenix, Wednesday vs. Denver.

• Thunder: Jones, Orton
• Lakers: Blake

• Thunder: --
• Lakers: Bryant, World Peace

• Lead Changes: 5
• Times Tied: 9

• Arena: Staples Center, Los Angeles, CA
• Officials: #33 Sean Corbin, #48 Scott Foster, #75 Eric Dalen
• Attendance: 18997
• Duration: 2:22