Here's the good news for the Lakers: They know how to beat the Thunder.
Dominate the paint. Play good transition defense. Slow the game down. For most of this Western Conference semifinal series, they've shown they can do it.
Here's the bad news: Now they have to do it three times in a row, twice in Oklahoma City, or their season's over.
That's a tall order, to be sure, against a team as good as OKC. The Thunder have three stars in Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and James Harden. They have the league's best shot-blocker in Serge Ibaka, a tough big man in Kendrick Perkins and a very good coach in Scott Brooks. They have young legs and a lot of confidence.
But they're beatable. If you throw out Game 1, when the Lakers looked worn out from their seven-game series with Denver and the Thunder couldn't miss, L.A. really has looked like the better team in this series. It could easily be 3-1 in favor of the Lakers or tied at 2.
Yet Oklahoma City is the one up 3-1, returning home for a potential close-out game Monday night. The reason? Execution down the stretch. The Lakers were up seven with two minutes left in Game 2 and lost. They were up 13 with eight minutes left in Game 4 and lost again.
How did that happen? You see a team like the Spurs, who play the same way for 48 minutes, running their stuff and going to their strengths. They don't beat themselves. But the Lakers beat themselves by getting away from their strengths, which is their two 7-footers in the paint, and failing to get stops on the other end late in games.
Now I know Kobe Bryant is receiving a lot of the blame, and I get that. He missed his last five shots and had a bad turnover in Game 2. He went 2-for-10 in the fourth quarter of Game 4. But I really don't think it's Kobe's fault. He's always going to try to do whatever it takes to win games. He's happy to pass to other guys when they're making shots. You saw that in Game 7 against the Nuggets. He had no problem passing to Andrew Bynum, Pau Gasol and Steve Blake.
But in his estimation, Kobe feels like he gives his team the best chance to win the game. It's the mentality he's always had: If I'm going down, I'm going down with guns blazing. He's always willing to go for it. You have to respect it because he's one of the greatest ever to play the game and he's won so many games for the Lakers over the years.
Besides, offensively, no one else has really stepped up for L.A. in this series. Bynum is averaging 18.3 points and 8.3 rebounds, but he's shooting just 44 percent from the field. Gasol is averaging 11.5 points and 6 rebounds while taking just 10 shots per game. The same people saying Kobe is too aggressive are saying Pau is too passive, but Gasol is a pass-first player. That's just who he is. He's very much a team-oriented player and an excellent passer. He's going to try to get his teammates good shots.
Now would you like Pau to be more aggressive on a consistent basis? Of course you would. That's what Kobe was saying after Game 4 when he said Pau needed to look for his shot more. He's saying we need him to be more assertive and go after it. Of course, Kobe holds himself and everyone else to such a high standard. Not everyone is as competitive as Kobe is. That's what makes him special. But the Lakers probably don't win two championships without Gasol, either. He hasn't changed. He's still a great player and he doesn't deserve all this criticism.
That said, the Lakers have been at their best in this series when the big guys are dominating down low. The key is doing it for long stretches because when it's a half-court game, L.A. has the advantage. That means playing inside-out basketball on offense, getting Bynum and Gasol a lot of touches. The Lakers have done a good job with offensive rebounding, but it can be a double-edged sword. If you crash the glass but don't get the rebounds, you don't have enough guys back on defense and Oklahoma City is off to the races.
Westbrook, Durant and Harden are all outstanding in transition. You have to slow them down and make them take jumpers. They're still going to make some, but you can't give them easy stuff on fast breaks and turnovers. The Lakers don't get easy baskets like that, so they can't give them up, either. They have to impose their style of basketball, which isn't easy because OKC's style is seductive. They run and gun, they turn it over, they take some bad shots, but they lure you into playing the same way. And you can't keep up with their young legs.
The Lakers have to make it a grind-it-out game. That's their only chance. And they have to do it for 48 minutes, not 40 or 46.
I know winning three straight is going to be tough, but the Lakers can't be thinking that way.
First, they have to win Game 5. If they can do that on OKC's home court and impose their will, then maybe the Thunder will think, "Uh-oh." Then the pressure all falls on Oklahoma City and there can be a snowball effect.
L.A. has the talent and the gameplan to get back in this series. But this challenge is as much mental as it is physical. If the Lakers lose their focus in Game 5, especially down the stretch, there won't be a Game 6 or 7.
