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Young Out for Sunday's Matchup

Nick Young will miss his second straight game due to a sore left knee, head coach Byron Scott announced at practice on Saturday.

“He still has swelling in (his knee) and soreness,” Scott said. “So he’ll make the (upcoming road) trip with us, and we’ll see if that thing will get better as we go along. But right now it’s just healing very slowly.”

Young did not participate in Saturday’s session. The Los Angeles native has missed 15 games due to injury this season, with L.A. winning four of them.

Meanwhile, the Lakers’ opponent on Sunday, Oklahoma City, is also banged up. The Thunder will be without Russell Westbrook (right cheek fracture), Kevin Durant (foot soreness), Steven Adams (right hand, fourth metacarpal fracture) and Steve Novak (appendectomy).

Closing Time
L.A. has played especially well at the end of contests during its season-long three-game winning streak, outscoring its opponents 79-45 in the final period of each game (overtime vs. Boston; fourth quarter vs. Utah and Milwaukee).

This success has stemmed from stingy defense, as the Lakers have held the Celtics, Jazz and Bucks to a combined 12-for-53 (22.6 percent) clip from the field in the last frame.

“We’re just changing our defense a lot,” Scott said. “We’re trying to keep teams a little off-balance. We’re going to our full-court press. We’re going to our zone. We’re going to our man-to-man. We’re just trying to keep them off balance as much as possible. … We’ve had scramble situations where we feel that we have to make that second and third effort. And our guys are doing that.”

That effectiveness has also bled onto the other side of the ball. The Lakers have shot 31-for-53 (58.5 percent) in the last quarter of their win streak.

“I think that’s the foundation of it all: being able to get stops,” Jeremy Lin said. “And then we come down, and we just try to spread the floor and take what the defense gives us. We’re really moving the ball, getting good shots every time we come down the floor. … Usually the team that will get the better shots will probably win the game.”