LOS ANGELES – For the second straight night on the road, the Thunder gave itself a chance in a possession-by-possession game in the final two minutes. This time, the game went the Thunder’s way.
It was a hotly contested matchup throughout the night on both ends of the floor, but things heated up in the fourth quarter when the stakes were highest. It all came down to which team executed the best down the stretch. Thanks to excellent defensive stops by all five men, the Thunder came away victorious 104-103.
"I'm happy for our guys. It was a team win. Everybody chipped in and everybody locked in defensively," Head Coach Scott Brooks said.
"We came out tonight with a good mindset and came out with a win," guard Russell Westbrook said.
The Thunder seemingly took control at the end of the third quarter when an Andre Roberson steal and quick dish resulted in an Anthony Morrow three-pointer to beat the quarter buzzer. That bucket capped a 12-3 run by the Thunder to end the period and gave Brooks’ squad its largest lead of the game at 82-73.
The Lakers, however, outscored the Thunder 20-8 over the first six minutes of the fourth quarter. An Adams alley-oop then a Westbrook transition layup helped the Thunder regain the lead, and from there it was completely back-and-forth, with the edge continually changing hands with each made basket.
After drawing a foul while battling for a loose ball, Reggie Jackson made two FTs with 1:05 to give OKC a one-point lead. A defensive stop, supercharged by Roberson’s defense on a Kobe Bryant shot attempt was then followed a Westbrook jumper from the elbow that gave the Thunder a 104-101 edge with 38.2 seconds remaining.
"It's a shot that I work on consistently," Westbrook said of his mid-range shot. "It's a shot that gives me the opporutnity to drive to the basket or make plays for my teammates from that position."
The Lakers responded with a Jeremy Lin jumper, then after a Westbrook miss, Los Angeles had 6.3 seconds remaining to try to get a bucket. Roberson forced Bryant into another difficult miss, sealing the victory for the Thunder.
"I just wanted to do my best to defend him. I didn't want him to get a shot up and if he did get a shot up, make it hard for him." Roberson said. "We did it together, it wasn't just me."
Westbrook was the primary catalyst for the Thunder on offense, but he was aided in a major way by the play of Jackson off the bench, who scored 25 points on 9-for-15 shooting. Serge Ibaka added 16 points, seven rebounds and five blocks, while Roberson added ten points and seven rebounds. Steven Adams scored nine points to go with ten rebounds.
Brooks said he was proud of his team's resiliency throughout the game. "As the game went on, we kept trusting each other. We competed and gave ourselves a chance to win."
Roberson Locked in from the Start
In his first career start as a rookie last season, Roberson was charged with defending Kobe Bryant, and on the very first possession, pressured Bryant into a jump ball. Tonight, Roberson got the assignment on the NBA’s third-leading scorer of all time and once again set the tone early. By chasing hard around every screen and getting into Bryant’s chest when he had the ball, Roberson made every catch, dribble, pass and shot a contested one.
"I look at if he had any open looks, or if his shots were tough," Roberson said. "I was just trying to make it tough on him. He's a heck of a player. He's been in this league a long time. We're just happy to come away with this win tonight."
Roberson held Bryant to 0-for-2 shooting with one turnover in 12 first quarter minutes. Bryant’s first points came at the free throw line at the 5:05 mark of the second quarter and his first made field goal came at the 1:54 mark of the second quarter. On the night, Bryant shot just 3-for-15 from the field for nine points in addition to three turnovers as a result of Roberson’s defensive tenacity.
On the defensive end, Roberson said the Thunder was "just being disciplined. We had a game plan. I feel like we did a great job overall as a team doing it and executing it. I give credit to my team, they helped me out, they were talking to me, we won this together."
"He (Roberson) did a good job guarding one of the toughest players in the league to guard," Brooks said. "The thing I like about Dre is he just does his job, night in and night out. He doesn't care who he guards, he's going to give everything he has to make him miss."
Westbrook Aggressive Generating Offense
With the smaller Ronnie Price guarding him, Westbrook shrugged off a slow start and went to work both in the post and off the dribble. The Thunder’s point guard repeatedly used his speed and strength to get into the lane and even more importantly, to the free throw line. His power on the block was devastating at times to the Lakers, as he continually got to the heart of the defense off of one or two dribbles.
In the first half alone, Westbrook knocked down all 13 of his free throw attempts, and on the night scored a game-high 31 points on 9-for-22 shooting. His attacking nature also freed up teammates for scoring opportunities, as he racked up ten of his team’s 21 assists on the night, but the way he got to the free throw line changed the game and opened the floor.
"I was just attacking, It's a good thing I made them all in the first half, huh?" Westbrook said with a sheepish grin.
"We have to get to the free throw line because that manufactures points and then we can get back on the defensive end and get set," Brooks said.
Stats of the Night
21-7 - The Thunder's assist-to-turnover ratio on the night, led by 15 assists to just three turnovers for Russell Westbrook and Reggie Jackson
25 - Points off the bench for Reggie Jackson on 9-for-15 shooting
60-47 - The Thunder's scoring advantage over the middle two quarters
The Final Word
"We just relied on Andre. He did a phenomenal job. He's ridiculous. He's a hell of a defender. Tonight he brought the energy and helped the team a lot." - center Steven Adams