Barring a myriad of injuries to the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Los Angeles Lakers aren’t making it past the second round of the NBA Playoffs.
After the Lakers beat the Denver Nuggets in a hard-fought, brutally-played seven game matchup, the prospect of heading to Oklahoma City for a shot at Kevin Durant and company was embraced. This would be a tight series, with both teams holding their home court.
Well, the Thunder certainly held their home court, dismantling the Lakers 119-90 on 53 percent shooting from the field. That’s abnormally high, even for an offensive juggernaut like Oklahoma City, and especially for a team going up against Los Angeles’ bigs.
The good news for the Lakers is that they played a passable first quarter. The other three, though? Not so much. But it’s only Game 1, Kobe Bryant and company have time to get it together, don’t they?
Theoretically, yes. That said, the tightly contested match-up that many were expecting may prove to be a pipe dream. The Lakers and Thunder stack up well at tip-off; their starting lineups present almost even match-ups at every position. Where the Thunder truly prevail, though, is on the bench, and not solely because of James Harden, but because the Lakers lack any consistency.
Los Angeles received just 26 points from its bench, compared to Oklahoma City’s 50. That’s insane. Not only are the Lakers tasked with containing Durant and Russell Westbrook, but they are forced to face a supporting cast, that unlike their own, comes out firing.
It’s not that the Lakers bench is truly incapable, but they are far from consistent. The heart of their bench—Steve Blake, Matt Barnes and Jordan Hill—do not instill fear on either end of the ball. They hardly look to shoot and at times, appear to be more passive fillers than anything else.
The Thunder’s bench presents just the opposite, and while it’s mostly because of Harden, guys like Nick Collison, Derek Fisher and Nazr Mohammed bring intangibles off the sidelines the Lakers crew just doesn’t.
And when playing a team like Oklahoma City, a deeply talented starting five will only get you so far, and that’s assuming Metta World Peace plays up to his potential.
Los Angeles addressed its need for a starting point guard with the acquisition of Ramon Sessions, and even strengthened their bench with Hill, but it’s simply not enough.
So, while the Lakers may steal a game, or even two, from the at times, lethargic Thunder, their hope of advancing is slim.
Slimmer than any of us were led to believe coming in.
Dan Favale is a firm believer in the three-pointer as well as the notion that defense doesn’t always win championships. His work can be found at Bleacherreport.com in addition to TheHoopDoctors.com. Follow @danfavale on Twitter for his latest posts and all things NBA.
