| 30 April 2010
Well, as Kobe et al alluded to, OKC certainly got LA's attention. Game 5 was all but over post the 1st quarter, and the entire second half pretty much amounted to garbage time. I hate to tell you "I told you so, but...".
Ok, I'm lying. I don't hate it: I told you so. LA (unfortunately) seem to need an external source of motivation to get going.
I think they're going now tho'.
LA recovered from an absolute beat-down in OKC in game 4, because in their minds - they weren't really trying. For what it's worth, I think that's true. The Lakers simply decided that the effort was more than the returns would be for winning that game.
Now, the pertinent question is: can OKC emulate LA, and come back from a crushing?
I don't think so. The difference being that OKC weren't taking a game off. They came to game 5, intent on winning... and were ripped to pieces. OKC have to take a game in LA. The other really important nugget of information that we keep hearing is that "The Thunder are a really young team." Yuh-huh, and I think that this is going to be what stops them in game 6. They are going to doubt, they are going to question themselves.
A young team might have the advantage when it comes to running a fast break all game... but when it comes to self-belief, this Lakers team has them vastly beat.
The game'll be a helluva lot closer than game 5 was - the OKC Thunder are indeed a good team - but LA will follow at least a similar game-plan to the last one - Inside/out with Bynum/Pau dominating, and Kobe-shadowing-Westbrook - and the end of the day the Lakers will leave OKC watching the Utah/Denver game with interest as to who their next opponent is going to be.
I hope this isn't coming across as disrespectful to OKC, it's not intended as such. They are indeed a good team... and I thank them for giving LA the wake-up call a round earlier than LA received it last season. But they're not quite ready. Not yet.
