Los Angeles Lakers (4-4, 1-3 road) vs. OKC Thunder (5-0, 3-0 home)

TV: TNT (Cox 31, HD 730)
Stream: Click here
Radio: WWLS The Sports Animal (98.1 FM, 640 AM, 97.1 FM Tulsa)
Time: 8:30 CT

Thunder lead series 1-0

View from the enemy: Forum Blue and Gold

Put Game 1 completely out of your mind. When I say “Game 1″ you should say, “What happened Game 1?” Because it’s over. It’s done with. It was a wonderful 48 minutes of basketball and fun vengeance against Metta World Peace, but dwelling on it and thinking it’s a given for Game 2 is dangerous.

However, nothing dramatic changed form Monday until now. The Lakers didn’t trade for a new point guard. They didn’t import much needed bench depth. The Thunder still have KD, Russ and Harden. The Thunder are still better. Oklahoma City at its best is probably 10 points better than the Lakers at their best. That doesn’t guarantee anything, which is why the anxiety levels will still be riding high until the final buzzer sounds.

The Lakers though, preached adjustments. What could they have changed in a day of work though other than having Josh McRoberts pull a Tonya Harding on Russell Westbrook’s knees? They are who they are. Yes, they can alter their pick-and-roll coverage some, hedge harder on Westbrook, take away his midrange game and hope the Thunder don’t shoot the lights out again. Which is a smart plan. That’s the blueprint to beating OKC. If it fails, it fails miserably, but it can work.

And then there’s the Kendrick Perkins thing again. He’s obviously not going to be 100 percent, and the Thunder had some issues defending Andrew Bynum in Game 1 as well as rebounding against LA’s size. If Perk isn’t ready to go, that could certainly affect things.

Which means to say, Game 2 is not given. The Thunder will turn it over more than four times tonight, will have to execute, will have to rebound and will have to defend. Kobe Bryant can go off at a moment’s notice and there may be a storm to weather. All you can go by is that if the Thunder do their thing, they should be just fine.

Tip at 8:30 CT. Go Red Glasses.

SCOTT BROOKS

Thunder center Kendrick Perkins was shooting free throws when reporters were allowed out onto the practice area at the INTEGRIS Thunder Development Center. When asked how his big man was doing Thunder head coach Scott Brooks said, “better, he participated in most of the shoot-around. We’ll see how he feels when he comes back to the arena tonight. He’ll be a game time decision.”

That was Perkins’ status Monday too and after warming up on the floor at Chesapeake Energy Arena he told his coach he was good to go. Perkins aggravated his right hip muscle strain in the third quarter of Monday’s win over the Lakers but could have played in the fourth quarter if the Thunder had needed him.

Brooks knows Perkins gung-ho attitude will likely lead him to say he’s ready to go tonight whether he really is or not so Brooks will likely rely more heavily on what the Thunder medical staff says.

“I will definitely talk with doctors. Our medical team, Perk and myself we all will get together and we’ll do what’s best for Perk.”

With that out of the way we move to the next big question which also happens to be the one FOX 25’s Myron Patten asked Kobe Bryant in the postgame news conference the other night, ‘can you guard them?’

And in particular can Kobe, or anyone else wearing purple and gold, stop or slow down Thunder point guard Russell Westbrook, especially when he’s running the pick and roll?

NICK COLLISON

“Historically, for whatever reason we have not been a good defensive screen & roll team,” Bryant told reporters Tuesday at Lakers practice, “we talked about that a little bit, things we have to do differently, things we have to do a little better.”

Bryant tried to play coy when he was asked if he would again guard Westbrook from the opening tip as he did Monday night, “no comment,” he said with a smile.

You can probably take that as meaning Kobe will be the main man on Westbrook at least most of the time and Bryant says taking away the Thunder point guard’s mid-range game will be as important as doing something about those pick & rolls.

“We’ve got to address that and not give him those pot shots. You can see it’s something he’s worked on. It’s not a weakness anymore, it’s a strength.”

Westbrook told reporters the Lakers need to watch out because if they take away some of what he does on offense then that will surely open up other guys who are more than capable of slinging daggers.

“It’s tough we’ve got a lot of guys who can catch and shoot, Kevin, Daequan, James, Fish so you gotta pick your poison.”

Funny he should say that because that’s what Metta World Ron Artest jokingly (?) said about how the Lakers could best slow down Westbrook, “I don’t know, maybe poison his cereal,” he was quoted as saying.

Fortunately, those of us who’ve spent time at the arena before games know Russ doesn’t eat cereal as his pre-game meal. It’s usually chicken fingers or sometimes just popcorn.

Whatever is on his plate tonight security might want to give it a taste test just to make sure.

Both Devin Ebanks and Andrew Bynum have been fined by the league, although for entirely different things.

Ebanks was fined $25,000 for his actions “prior to and following” his ejection in Game 1 after he scuffled with a few Thunder players before kicking a chair an ripping off his jersey.

Bynum was fined for not making himself available to the media following the Lakers’ practice yesterday.

Game 1 went pretty much perfectly. But that’s over with and done. On to the next one, which unfortunately doesn’t start with the Thunder ahead 29-0. Still, did Game 1 show something? Did it reveal there’s a substantial gap between the Thunder and Lakers? Things can change, teams can adjust, but it’s still going to be the same two teams on the floor that met in Game 1. Should Thunder fans allow themselves to start thinking ahead already?

1. True or False: The Thunder are double-digits better than the Lakers.

Royce Young, Daily Thunder: True. That obviously doesn’t mean the Thunder are going to win every game by double-digits, but in terms of the separation between the two teams, Oklahoma City has a pretty clear advantage. The two regular season wins were fairly convincing, and the loss came without James Harden. Clearly, the Thunder aren’t 29 points better, but they are 8-10 points better.

Patrick James, Daily Thunder: True. Just look at every game the Thunder and Lakers have played since OKC got Kendrick Perkins in the lineup: Thunder wins by 29, nine, 15 and 14, and then an eight-point Lakers win in overtime during a game that featured a massive L.A. comeback with James Harden out with a concussion you may have heard about. Three of those five wins were in Los Angeles. The average result OKC those five games is a 12-point Thunder win. This is something that both stat heads and gut feelers can agree on.

Kyle Porter, Pistols Firing: They’ve won four of the last five against L.A. dating back to last year by nine or more points. The only one they didn’t was the 2OT beard-gate loss in LA a month ago. They aren’t 30 points better, or 20 for that matter, but they are double-digits better.

2. True or False: The Thunder can handle the Lakers without a healthy Perk.

Royce Young: True. Only because Andrew Bynum is prone to fading away from games. If Bynum is engaged, the Thunder need Perk because so much of their defensive approach is single coverage on the Laker big man. But Nazr Mohammed is a big body with six fouls, as is Cole Aldrich. Bynum could be more of an asset to the Laker halfcourt offense sans Perk, but the Lakers have also never shown to be that dedicated to going inside to their big man. After Perk’s injury, Bynum only got one post touch in the first five minutes, and he kicked out.

Patrick James: True. Handle? Yes. Dominate? No. That said, OKC already dominated the Lakers on Monday with Perk basically playing only half a game, and the half he played was well below his standards defensively with Andrew Bynum absolutely shedding th Thunder early. So play a little more small ball, which is a dependable move for the Thunder anyway, and spread Perk’s minutes among Nazr Mohammed, Nico Collison and Cole Aldrich, and OKC should be fine. Maybe not fine as in another sweep, but does anyone really think the Lakers can push this beyond six games?

Kyle Porter: True. But it’ll be a much longer series without him. On the BS Report the other day Steve Kerr said Perk might be the best low-post defender in the NBA, to lose him when you’re facing the best (albeit flightiest) low post combo in the league wouldn’t be crippling but it would definitely stretch the series out to six or seven.

3. True or False: Overconfidence is a the biggest issue for the Thunder right now.

Royce Young: False. I added this question because it’s worrying me. You smash a team, swagger around and feel like you’re 8-10 points better, and it makes you anxious if you’re getting ahead of yourself. But the team knows the task at hand, and certainly respects the Lakers and their ability. I think Game 1 was absolutely satisfying, but that one is over and it doesn’t matter if you drop Game 2.

Patrick James: False. The biggest issues for the Thunder from here on out are all external: Every team left in the playoffs is good. We’ve already covered how I think the Lakers can realistically go in this series, but they can still win games. And the Spurs are a bunch of terminators. The Thunder is confident, not cocky and not overconfident. They know they’re good, but they stil work hard.

Kyle Porter: False. Figuring out a way to win games when your starters don’t shoot 63% (!) from the field like they did in Game 1 is. They were able to do it in Game 3 against Dallas when they only shot 42% as a team but forced 16 turnovers and harassed Dirk/Kidd/Marion/Jet into a 14-45 shooting night. Can they do the same against L.A.? We’ll see.

Brian Kamenetzky of ESPN LA on adjustments: “Cohesion for the pick and roll defense. Too often Russell Westbrook was able to turn the corner and step into a mid-range jumper without being bothered. Same with Kevin Durant. The Lakers have to apply more pressure higher on the floor, and more importantly need to make sure everyone is on the same page in his coverages. Clearly that wasn’t the case Monday night. Westbrook, Durant, and particularly James Harden are all elite level scorers handling the ball on the pick and roll, and will require elite level defense in response. It’s not simply a question of playing the Kobe Bryant-on-Westbrook card. They tried that in Game 1, and it wasn’t effective because the overall coverages weren’t good.”

Kobe says he doesn’t take charges: “I learned from my predecessors,” Bryant said. “(Scottie) Pippen had a (messed) up back taking charges. (Larry) Bird had a (messed) up back taking charges. I said, ‘I’m not taking charges.’ I figured that … out at an early age.”

Trey Kerby of TBJ on OKC being gym rats: “But now since Scott Brooks put it in my head, I’m having a hard time imagining the Thunder doing normal person stuff in their downtime. Like, I can’t picture Serge Ibaka going to the store and buying soup or Thabo Sefolosha popping in to a Barnes and Noble to look at some magazines. That kind of stuff has to happen, I’m sure, but it’s really weird to think of the Thunder doing it instead of playing basketball. For now, I’m just going to assume Derek Fisher runs all their errands like the dad that he is. That makes the most sense to me, so I’m running with it.”

President Obama likes the Thunder as a title contender.

Something I stumbled across today: Most random Thunder player in their short history: Chucky Atkins.

Berry Tramel on Westbrook: “I don’t know if Westbrook’s look is fashion statement or faux pas. But I do know this. It’s a disguise. Camouflage. A mask designed to make us think Superman really is mild-mannered Clark Kent. Or maybe to offer a clue that Westbrook, a dragonslayer of a ballplayer, really does have an alter ego. A clue that there’s a little bit of Urkel in him.”

Metta World Peace wanted Scott Brooks as his coach.

Trey Kerby of TBJ on Westbrook’s fashion: “Not to mention, you have to appreciate a guy who confidently picks out a shirt he likes, buttons it all the way up to his neck and then just nonchalantly tosses off an “I’ve been knowing how to dress for a while” like he’s not wearing a shirt our moms would buy for us when we were six. That’s bold. This is the pull-up jumper with 20 seconds left on the shot clock and Kevin Durant wide-open of explaining clothing decisions. It’s like he thinks he’s Kanye West or something.”

Mark Medina of the L.A. Times on defending Westbrook: “The Lakers’ hope that Westbrook would miss his shots backfired. From the beginning they allowed Westbrook to get in a rhythm by granting him open looks. That only bolstered his confidence and, more important, made it more difficult for the Lakers to absorb all the other problems that plagued them.”

David Roth of the Wall Street Journal: “The Lakers have won a lot of playoff games, and Kobe Bryant in the playoffs is, well, Kobe Bryant in the playoffs. But with Bryant himself acknowledging Oklahoma City’s athletic superiority in his post-game comments—and with that 29-point thumping still fresh in the memory—it’s easy to believe that this series could mark a turning point for the Thunder. For all the narrative catharsis and revenge related to that endlessly replayed elbow, the Thunder sure seemed to be serving notice on Monday that the real thumping will involve basketball, and is just getting started.”

RUSSELL WESTBROOK

Thunder head coach Scotty Brooks told us after the game last night Kendrick Perkins was good to go and could have gone back in the game after aggravating his strained right hip muscle.

Things changed a little bit overnight.

“He came in today and was just a little sore so we’ll see how he feels tomorrow.”

Perkins did not practice today, instead getting treatments from the Thunder medical staff. He’ll get more of that later today and then again tomorrow.

“We will talk with the doctors, our medical team, Perk and myself we’ll all get together and do what’s best for Perk,” Brooks told a throng of reporters, “and if he’s ready to go he’ll go and if he’s not then we won’t play him but we’ll see he feels tomorrow.”

NAZR MOHAMMED

Perkins is known for being one of the toughest players in the league when it comes to playing with pain and dealing with injuries in fact Brooks thinks his center has almost superhero like powers.

“He’s as tough as they come if they ever do another Avengers movie he’d probably be one of the characters, Perk. It’d be Thor, Captain America and Perk.”

If Perkins doesn’t play tomorrow night expect Nazr Mohammed to start in his place and Cole Aldrich likely will see some important minutes too.

SCOTT BROOKS

“I’m hoping he’s (Perkins) is okay,” said Mohammed today, “he’s one of our leaders, he’s our defensive leader and he’s the heart and soul of this team, but my mindset (if Perkins can’t go) is just to try and play defense and try to continue some of the things he did on the floor and then add to it some of things that I do.”

Like forcing Andrew Bynum to guard him out away from the basket and then hit open shots, both of which Nazy did last night.

“That’s my job, to be there and make the open shot if the ball is given to me and other than that to set screens and try to finish off plays.”

Brooks will have no second thoughts about starting Mohammed and increasing minutes for both Aldrich and Nick Collison.

THABO SEFOLOSHA

“I’m confident,” he declared, “those guys, Naz, Cole, Nick, Serge (Ibaka) and Kevin (Durant) they can play good minutes for us and Naz has great experience he’s been on a Championship team (2005 Spurs) and has played important minutes throughout his career.”

Some of the most important could very well come tomorrow night against the Lakers if the newest Avenger can’t play.

After re-aggravating his strained right hip in the third quarter of Game 1, Kendrick Perkins is a gametime decision for Game 2, Scott Brooks said at practice Tuesday.

Perkins re-injured the hip on a dunk in the third quarter as the Thunder began to blow out the Lakers. Perkins returned to the Thunder bench after immediately going to the locker room and was said to be available to return, but Oklahoma City was so far ahead it wasn’t necessary.

Brooks said after the game that Perk would be re-evaluated and get treatment. He did not practice Tuesday.

In Perk’s place, Nazr Mohammed performed especially well defending Andrew Bynum while also providing a nice little offensive spark. That was nice for the Thunder, but not something they can completely rely upon. Mohammed is a quality veteran backup big, but Perk is one of the best Bynum defenders in the league.

If Perkins is out though, that would mean second-year center Cole Aldrich would likely need to play meaningful minutes, something he hasn’t really done at all during his time in the league.

Perkins originally injured the hip in Game 4 against the Mavericks.

Kelly Dwyer of BDL: “For the Thunder to come out this sharp after over a week off is quite the accomplishment. The rust vs. rest argument is a tired one, it really does come down to the individual situation, but it was remarkable to see the Thunder peeling out from the beginning. Twenty points and 14 rebounds for Andrew Bynum, and it didn’t matter. Metta World Peace and Matt Barnes think defense-first, and it didn’t matter. Nobody really has to guard Kendrick Perkins or Nazr Mohammed after they set screens for their mates on the perimeter, and it didn’t matter. Overreacting? Perhaps. But the Thunder looked scary. Playing at a fever pitch, after eight days off. Not a lot of playoff precedent for that.”

Matt Moore for PBT: “The Thunder ran them out the building, and no one responded. There was no fight, no charge, no big move or surge. They didn’t even trim the lead in half to make a point going into Game 2. They just wilted. The Lakers are supposed to be a better defensive team, but they were crushed by the Thunder’s three-headed monster. Everything went wrong at once for the Lakers, and they do not appear to be aware that they are facing a team that finished with more wins, including two over them in dominant fashion this season. They do not appear to recognize that the Thunder are not kids who they can take lightly. This team is dangerous and has matchup advantages over the Lakers.”

Me at CBSSports.com.

Berry Tramel: “Brown said both Boomers got in a rhythm on a normally tough shot — pulling up in front of defenders for a jumper, knowing another defender was coming from behind. The Lakers tried everything — including extended use of a zone defense — and nothing worked. And now LA has precious little time to fix things. Or rest up. There are only two off days before Game 4.”

A Q&A with the new PA guy.

Darnell Mayberry: “As expected, there were no handshakes between James Harden and World Peace. Hopefully now we can all move on. That was the most overblown story line of the playoffs so far. Should World Peace have sought out Harden before the game and apologized? Perhaps. But should he have made a point to do it in the middle of the game? Not at all. Even if you think he should have, you have to keep in mind two things: 1) We’re talking about Ron Artest, and 2) he already has apologized, numerous times. Let’s move on.”

Now people are already asking if the Lakers will win a game.

Dave McMenamin of ESPN LA: “The Los Angeles Lakers were outplayed, outhustled and outclassed by the Oklahoma City Thunder on Monday, and the funny thing about it is, the Thunder would never be this good if it wasn’t for the Lakers pushing them to this point. Just like Dr. Frankenstein paid his price for tinkering in the lab, the Lakers are partly responsible for creating this monster Thunder team by ousting them from the playoffs in 2010 after a hard-fought six-game series in the first round.”

J.A. Adande of ESPN.com: “Should they go to their last resort and put Bryant on Westbrook? They already went there. Quite early actually. And Westbrook either got by Bryant himself or had a teammate take care of him with a screen … with no Laker defender stepping up. Just to mix things up, one time Westbrook ran Bryant into a backscreen, then soared for an alley-oop pass from Durant with no one on the frontcourt coming over to help. It had Bryant issuing what sounded like a call for Mike Brown to … Do Something!”

TBJ reviewing last night.

Bill Plaschke of the L.A. Times: “Is this first punch a knockout punch? How on earth can the Lakers peel themselves off the floor to win four of the next six games against an Oklahoma City team that just beat them by 29 points, two dozen sprints, a dozen floor burns, six dunks, five tongue-wagging celebrations, and one glaring Derek Fisher? Is it over?”

Get drunk off the Thunder.

Beckley Mason of HoopSpeak with an open letter to OKC: “That Clay Bennett could move a team to a city that would never be able to support a team like Seattle only made it much, much worse. There are more than twice as many people in Washington as in Oklahoma. Seattle’s TV Market, the metric that will increasingly determine how much money an NBA team can make, is two and half times bigger than Oklahoma City’s. By definition, whatever joy was created in Oklahoma was less widespread and widely felt than the pain in Seattle. And because it made no objective business sense in the long term, the move was (correctly) interpreted as Bennett, Aubrey McClendon and others simply taking because they could.”

Darren Rovell of CNBC on Aubrey McClendon: “Oklahoma City has surprisingly turned into one of the hottest tickets in the league even though it isn’t exactly a hotbed for big money. One of those reasons is that Chesapeake, one of two Fortune 500 companies based there, has bought up a significant amount of tickets. So is it possible that Chesapeake has inflated the marketplace for Thunder tickets, now well known as one of the best margin mark-ups on the secondary market in the NBA? The company disclosed in its proxy statement filed last week that it bought $1.4 million in playoff tickets last year and $3.2 million worth of regular season tickets this year. That’s roughly the equivalent of 500 season tickets in prime locations throughout the arena or 2.8 percent of the arena’s capacity.”

BOX SCORE

Rust? What rust?

Elbows? What elbows?

It was evident pretty quickly that the Thunder weren’t focusing whatsoever on any of that extracurricular noise. Forget all the storylines and angles leading into this thing. It was basketball, and basketball only in Game 1. It was about executing a plan, playing your game and handling business. And they did that to the tune of a 29-point hammering of the Lakers to take a 1-0 lead.

“There’s no question we have a team full of gym rats,” Scott Brooks said. “They want to play basketball. That’s all they want to do. They want to play basketball. They’re basketball players. They probably don’t have much of a life off the court. You’re concerned, you’re a little worried that rust would be there, but we did a lot of scrimmaging, we did a lot of drills, we did a lot of things we did in training camp that prepared us. But I wasn’t anticipating this type of game.”

Russell Westbrook — fantastic. He went for 27-9-7 in three quarters. Kevin Durant scored almost a silent 25 points, doing it in his fabulously efficient way. James Harden added 17 off the bench to help OKC’s second unit pile up 50 total points. I’ve said it before, but when those three all play well on the same night, you’re not beating the Thunder. When the jumpers fall, when they attack and on the rare occasion they only turn it over a total of four times, there’s just no way you’re stopping this team. Honestly, losing by only 29 is probably an achievement in that case.

Think about it: four. Four turnovers. That’s a franchise low for the playoffs, but come on man, with the struggles this team has had in that department? I mean, seriously? As Scott Brooks said, “That’s huge. Four, we’ve had that the first six minutes of the game at times.” Westbrook turns the ball over four times when he gets out of bed in the morning. To go through an entire game, in the playoffs, only giving it away four times? Unheard of. KD called the ball security “decent.” Related: Kate Upton looks “decent.”

The midrange game will likely dry up one of these games. You can’t expect to consistently drop those shots four straight games, even if the Thunder have done it well this season. There surely will be a game where it becomes a grind, where it comes down to possessions and stops and rebounds. Where it comes down to executing a critical inbounds play, to putting together a string of well run halfcourt sets. It’s going to take that. This was quite the treat and certainly the best way ever to begin a series, but this isn’t going to be the norm.

There was some worry — from myself included — of rust, or a certain tightness whether it be from anxiousness or whatever. Obviously not a factor. The Thunder were popping early, scoring 30 in the first quarter en route to a 59-44 halftime lead. Then exploding out of halftime on a 7-0 run in about a minute that was essentially an elbow right to the temple of the Lakers. The Thunder didn’t just throw the first punch. They roundhouse-dropkick-elbow-punched Lakers in the head. The way they started well, kept it going and then finished well was most impressive.

All went according to plan. The Thunder took Game 1, looked dominant in doing it, let their game do all their talking and set an incredible tone for the series. The Thunder straight declared war on World Peace. And the rest of the Lakers.

But… take a small breath. It’s one, and four are needed. Here’s some sobering reality: The Lakers need only to take one of these two games in Oklahoma City to feel like they’ve got a great chance in this series. Lose Wednesday, and you completely erase everything good that happened here. Lose Wednesday, and it might as well been a one-point buzzer-beater that bounced around all over the rim. The way the Thunder outclassed the Lakers tonight definitely affirmed the way I felt about this matchup, but it’s one. One game. Three more to go.

Savor this butt-kicking for sure, soak it in. I know it has to feel good for the Thunder. Considering the circumstances, they wanted this one. They’re certainly not going to admit it, but that felt good. But bask in it too long and give one away Wednesday and it doesn’t mean anything more than an ugly two-point victory. The Thunder absolutely sent a clear message, but winning by 29 doesn’t count for anymore than for one.

NOTES:

• The reaction to World Peace: It honestly wasn’t anything that over the top. The crowd booed, and booed loudly when he was introduced. Then wouldn’t you know it, he hit a 3 on his very first touch. But I enjoyed the fact the crowd kept up the booing on each touch. There was even kind of a funny moment when World Peace caught a pass, gave it up, got it back, gave it up and got it back. Boo, quiet, boo, quiet, boo.

• However, Harden’s ovation when he checked in was louder than World Peace’s booing when he was introduced. As it should’ve been. I thought the Thunder crowd handled it perfectly. They let World Peace know, but nothing crazy or over the top. If there’s a word for it, it was “appropriate.”

• Kendrick Perkins re-aggravated his hip injury in the third quarter and exited the game and immediately went to the locker room. He returned to the bench and the team says he was available to return, but obviously wasn’t needed. Brooks said following the game he’ll get treatment and will be re-evaluated though.

• There are no two bigger basketball buzzwords than “adjustments” and “aggressive.” If only a team could make adjustments and be aggressive. They’d be unstoppable. That’s all the Lakers said after the game.

• The first half was the best I’ve seen Andrew Bynum play against OKC. He had 14 points and nine rebounds at the break, but finished with six and five in the second.

• After not playing really at all in the opening round, Nazr Mohammed came in and did quite the job off the bench. He was effective offensively, did well on Bynum and handled business on the boards. Encouraging sign.

• Cole Aldrich: seven points and six rebounds in nine minutes.

• Nick Collison had two terrific dunks tonight. Related: My heart skipped a beat twice tonight.

• Devin Ebanks got ejected late in the fourth quarter by getting two technicals and then ripped his jersey off going to the locker room. Doesn’t he know he needs to wait three more games to pull that?

• Tony Brothers got in his stupid technical foul of the night, calling Ibaka for I guess, landing near Kobe after a blocked shot attempt.

• The Thunder can put the Lakers in some real difficult matchup situations. It was obvious Mike Brown had his head spinning to try and keep up with Scott Brooks’ substitutions. In the second quarter, Brooks went small and you would’ve thought Brown had never heard of such a concept. He had Jordan Hill on Durant, then Hill on Derek Fisher, then he switched Gasol to Fisher. The Thunder can put the Lakers in matchup hell. I’m not sure the Lakers have any lineup OKC can’t match.

• If you’re too cool to put on the free t-shirt over your graphic tee or pink collared button up, I’d rather you give your ticket to someone else.

• Ramon Sessions is painfully passive offensively. The Thunder didn’t respect him outside of 18 feet at all.

• Kobe is seriously the only player in the league afforded a wild reaction in front of an official. Westbrook does that, he gets five technicals, all at once.

• After the game, Russell Westbrook was wearing a shirt with fishing lures on it and red glasses from the Sally Jesse Rapheal collection.

• Fast break points: 13 for the Thunder, zero for the Lakers.

• Metta World Peace on the situation with Harden: “Right now, it’s about basketball, you know. I think after the season if fans want to talk to me, you know tweet me or hit me up online on ronartest.com or go to my podcast, the Ron and Metta Show. I think that after the season we can talk about that, but right now it’s more about basketball for me.”

• Metta World Peace on the crowd: “I mean, I think the Oklahoma City fans do a good job of supporting their players and their team. Obviously, the city of Oklahoma has to be some of the best fans in the NBA. They took on a team that needed shelter and they were able to support their team and able to pay the players. So obviously they love basketball here.”

• World Peace brought an elbow up near Harden’s head again in this game.

• The Lakers had 87 possessions tonight, the Thunder 88. Offensive efficiencies: Lakers, 103.4. Thunder, 135.2

• Very, very few Laker fans in the building.

• Berry Tramel made a great point late during the third quarter: Why not put Cole Aldrich in early? Give him a chance to defend Bynum, which might be necessary in real minutes at some point if Perk isn’t healthy.

• It was way weirder than I thought having the new PA guy. Especially during starting lineups. I’d gotten used to the old cadences and calls, so when the new guy called out Kevin Durant’s name in his way, it was strange.

Next up: Game 2 Wednesday in OKC.