If this is what this Western Conference Semis series is going to be, I’m not sure how the Los Angeles Lakers don’t go down in flames. It’s important to remember that Game One is just one game. The Oklahoma City Thunder were sharp and more than ready to be released from their postseason waiting room and, alternatively, the Lakers were not quite on their highest level of play after their trying series with the Denver Nuggets that pushed them to the brink. Take all of it into consideration, but still: Oklahoma City looked too fast, too sharp, too explosive and focused to make one believe that anything less than L.A.’s absolute best, combined with somehow turning the tempo down a few notches, will seriously test the Thunder. O.K.C. is a boulder rolling downhill — not just on a collision course for the San Antonio Spurs or Miami Heat, but ready to steamroll any team that happens to show up in their path.
The Lakers will have to get creative in their attempts at keeping Russell Westbrook, the tip of the Thunder’s doomsday offense, on the perimeter; problem is Los Angeles (like much of the rest of the league) just doesn’t have the quickness to keep him from getting where he wants to go. As last night proved it’s all downhill from that point, as defenses crumble and scramble leaving open shooters everywhere — who are sometimes named James Harden and Kevin Durant — and giving the overall game itself a feeling of controlled chaos. O.K.C. on the defensive end, too, fosters this state of opponents losing control as the likes of Serge Ibaka challenge everything coming at the rim, which begins the groundswell that usually rolls to the other end of the floor, ending in an earth-shattering transition bucket, three, or trip to the foul line.
Like the Dallas Mavericks before them, there were many times during Game One that the Lakers were simply sharing physical space with the Thunder, but by no means were they anywhere near the same level of play. Los Angeles hadn’t even been hit yet and O.K.C. was already smelling blood in the water. To turn things around in Game Two, the Lakers will somehow need to slow the game down; limit run-outs, limit turnovers and blocked shots that lead to disaster, attempt to control the game through the post, through the oft-discussed Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol. But we’ve seen the Lakers rely on that strategy, or the necessity of Gasol and Bynum’s play being the driving force behind a game, and it simply can’t be relied upon enough to believe L.A. can truly steer every night’s action around those two.
The biggest problem is that it might not even matter if they could. The Lakers didn’t have the tools to stop Westbrook from pillaging his way to wherever he wanted on the floor in Game One, and it all begins and snowballs from there. Los Angeles will, of course, need a better showing than what we witnessed last night to avoid an all-out four game embarrassment, but even their best may not be able to match what the Thunder can bring to the table, simply by being their normal selves.
Griffin Gotta contributes to The Hoop Doctors and is a co-managing editor of Straight Outta Vancouver. The story arcs and infinite weirdness of the NBA are addictions he deals with every day. Email him at griffingotta at gmail dot com.
