Quarter by Quarter observations

First Quarter

 Not a good quarter for the Thunder, KD went 0-5 and really appeared to be struggling against the defense of Artest. Kobe was made two absolutely ridiculous shots and is 6-9, Bynum is 5-6 with 5 rebounds. Bryant, Bynum and Artest all played the entire quarter. The Lakers are just playing with more energy and passion than the Thunder right now. Ibaka has come in and is playing well as is Thomas. With those two in the game the Thunder kind of stabilized and stopped the Lakers from running the lead up even higher. This game already has the feel of the OKC Washington game only this time we are on the wrong end. Hopefully we can make a run to get it close before the half ends, if they can cut this lead to single digits before half that will be a small win in the fight to get back in this game.

Score to end the Quarter 35-16 Lakers

Second Quarter

Well they cut the lead to 12 at one point but slowly but surely the Lakers extended it back to 23. It seems like the Lakers are getting points off their defensive stops while the Thunder just can't seem to get the buckets. KD being on the bench with foul trouble doesn't help either. Westbrook, Durant, and Harden can't find the range they are 2-8, 2-9, and 1-9. Ibaka is playing well he has 3 blocks already and has had a major impact on defense, he is also 3-3 so the offense has been there as well. The Lakers are really making a statement on defense, they are harassing the Thunder into bad shots.

Score to finish the half 57-34 Lakers

Half

It's going to take a huge amount of effort and heart to get back into this one. The Thunder are shooting horribly with the exception of Ibaka. The Lakers are outrebounding the Thunder 30-20 and 12-5 on the offensive glass, and while the Lakers have 3 turnovers the Thunder have 10. So the Thunder just got dominated in every facet of the game for a half and are now down 23. Step one is to get the defense back, the Thunder have not really been giving a lot of effort on defense and that will have to change to have a shot. Second the Thunder have to figure out how to get some good shots against this defense and start making them. I hope Brooks starts trying to get the ball down low to Ibaka so far all three of his shots have been midrange jumpers similar to the shots we see from Krstic.

Third Quarter

 The Thunder are driving the ball to the basket and getting good shots. The Lakers defense has had to adjust to the Thunder's driving the lane and its making it easier to get good shots all around. The Thunder outscored the Lakers by 2 in that quarter. If it wasn't for the terrible first quarter this would be a much closer game. White has gotten into the game and has looked pretty good in the limited minutes we have seen him. Ibaka continues to play well particularly on defense, I can definitely see him as the defensive center so many people think this team really needs.

Score to finish the Quarter 79-58 Lakers

Fourth Quarter

 Not a good night from the Thunder. The positives we saw a lot of the younger players that are still a little bit of a mystery. Hopefully Ollie's injury is not a lasting one because the Thunder just sent Weaver down to Tulsa. I would like to see Weaver back in OKC playing the point but I think for his development it might be better to stay in Tulsa. The Thunder reserves kept playing right till the end but could not over come the poor first quarter. After the game in OKC earlier in the year the dreams were of a competative game but in the end the Lakers defended home court and came out like a team with something to prove, and prove it they did.

Score to finish the Game 101-85 Thunder

The Good and The Bad individually

The Good

DJ White

Played well and looked like he has real potential as a backup power forward or even play a little undersized center. He showed a nice pull up jumper that he can make if you don't contest it which the Lakers didn't probably due to the score. With Green and White the Thunder have two pretty good options at power forward that are only going to get better.

Serge Ibaka

Got some good offensive looks, he scored 3 times on midrange jumpers and 1 on a running jump hook. Ibaka is really looking like he might be the defensive presence in the middle the Thunder lack right now.

The Bad

This game was over after the first quarter. We didn't know at the time but the Thunder could not come back from being down 19 points after the first. The Lakers came out with great defense and forced the Thunder into poor shots. The Thunder did not have much energy on the defensive side early in the game and by the time they started to play it was too late. Harden went 0-7 from three 1-11 from the field before the game got truly out of hand.

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