vs. 
Oklahoma City Thunder (13-13, 6-6 road) at L.A. Lakers (22-4, 15-2 home)
TV: NBATV (Cox 256, HD 726); FS Oklahoma (Cox 37, HD 722, Tulsa Cox 27, DirectTV 679, UVerse 753)
Stream: Click Here
Radio: WWLS The Sports Animal (98.1 FM, 640 AM, 97.1 FM Tulsa)
Time: 9:30 CST
Offensive Rating: Thunder – 105.3 (21st), Lakers – 107.8 (14th)
Defensive Rating: Thunder – 104.1 (7th), Lakers – 98.7 (1sr)
Pace: Thunder – 91.7 (21tst), Lakers – 94.6 (8th)
View from the enemy: Forum Blue and Gold
Being a slightly blinded fan is weird. On one hand, you’re completely realistic. You know when your team should win, you ALWAYS fear they will lose, but you often know when they’ll lose. But you also always have this small part of you that plays the “What If?” game. We all do it. What if Kevin Durant gets hot? What if Kobe is off? What if Russell Westbrook breaks out? What if the Lakers are flat? And on and on. Read more…
Preview
LA Lakers
vs. 
Oklahoma City Thunder (7-6) vs. Los Angeles Lakers (9-3)
TV: FS Oklahoma (Cox 37, HD 722, Tulsa Cox 27, DirectTV 679, UVerse 753)
Stream: Click Here
Radio: WWLS The Sports Animal (98.1 FM, 640 AM, 97.1 FM Tulsa)
Time: 8:30 CST
View from the enemy: Forum Blue and Gold
Offensive Rating: Thunder – 104.5 (21st), Lakers – 105.9 (16th)
Defensive Rating: Thunder – 101.1 (6th), Lakers – 101.8 (8th)
Pace: Thunder – 91.8 (2oth), Lakers – 94.6 (7th)
(Note: This pregame was written earlier in the week, so keep that in mind if anything is off.)
Here’s some good news: In L.A., Oklahoma City is 1-0! Good omen? Good omen.
I’m sure we haven’t forgotten the first meeting. And I bet the team hasn’t either. The problem is, it’s Sunday night at the Staples Center and the Lakers don’t often lose in this circumstance. Not saying it can’t be done, but it’s not an easy haul. Read more…
Preview
LA Lakers
BOX SCORE
(AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
After a game like that, you tell yourself not to be sad. You tell yourself to look at the improvement. You tell yourself to look at a young, evolving team hanging with the NBA champs and taking them to the brink. You tell yourself that your team played its heart out and gave everything it had.
You tell yourself these things. But it doesn’t make you feel any better. In the end, it just sucks to lose. Especially when you’re that close to a big time win.
The Thunder took the Lakers to overtime, but came up just short, 101-98. And it’s not like the chances weren’t there. They were right there. The ball in your possession with 25 seconds left in a tie game. That’s what you want. Down one with 30 seconds left and a stud scorer waiting to take the shot. You want that. But both times, it didn’t work out for Oklahoma City.
The ball went to Kevin Durant both times and both times, KD came up with all air. It’s not like Durant was having an off night again – he scored 28 points on 10-24 shooting. He had a good night. Without him, OKC isn’t in the position it was. But what’s weird, is that Durant went 0-8 from 3. He’s actually 2-20 from deep on the season and has missed his last 13. I don’t know what the deal is, but it’s clearly a mental thing. Like I wrote in the last postgame, sometimes you just want the ball to go in so bad, that it just won’t. All you need to break out of it is to see it go through one time. Don’t worry about KD. He’ll be fine. And think about this: The Thunder’s hanging tough with their super-stud player not playing up to his potential. And we all know he will soon. So in a backwards way, this is encouraging. Read more…
Recap
LA Lakers
vs. 
TV: NBA TV (Cox 256, HD 726); FS Oklahoma (Cox 37, Tulsa Cox 27, HD 722; DirectTV 679, AT&T U-Verse 753)
Stream: Click Here
Radio: WWLS The Sports Animal (98.1 FM, 640 AM, 97.1 FM Tulsa)
Time: 7:00 CST
View from the enemy: Forum Blue and Gold
Offensive Rating: Thunder – 101.1 (20th), Lakers – 102.3 (19th)
Defensive Rating: Thunder – 96.6 (5th), Lakers – 101.9 (9th)
Pace: Thunder – 88.0 (28th), Lakers – 96.8 (4th)
Here is crack No. 2 at making a statement. I thought before the season that starting 1-3 was likely, 2-2 would be very nice and anything above that would be excellent. So now we’ve got the chance to be excellent. The thing is, you tell me before the season the Thunder will be 2-2 through the first four and I’d have been happy. But now that OKC has the chance to do more because it won the first two, I’ll feel strangely disappointed. Weird how that happens. Read more…
Preview
LA Lakers
