Geoff JohnsonThe Los Angeles Lakers got to that part of the season where is win or go home; LA will host the Oklahoma Thunder this Saturday at 10:30 PM ET at the Staples Center in the most important game of the year for Kobe and company.
Despite losing 77-75 to the Thunder in game two, in a really unbelievable fashion, by the way, the Lakers could be happy about one thing: they figured out how to stop the fast power offense of OKC; however, knowing that they led the game slip could be too much to handle if game three is tied late in the 4th quarter.
“They won’t quit. That’s not in their DNA,” OKC coach Scott Brooks said. “They’re not wired that way, and if they were, they wouldn’t be here. We’re not going to win every game, but we’re going to fight to the last second of the game, and we did that tonight. If we would have gotten down on ourselves with two minutes to go, we would have lost by 12, and we would go to L.A. 1-1.”
The Lakers came up empty on their last six possessions after Bynum’s hook shot made it 75-68 with 2:09 remaining in game three, and they even got the winning shot on their hands, but instead of Kobe Bryant, it was Steve Blake who took it.
“What they did the last few minutes there, they just made gambles,” Bryant said. “They just jumped in the passing lanes. It’s something that we’re not accustomed to seeing. It’s just flat-out risk”.
Los Angeles is -2.5 points favorites in the NBA odds, but the best bet here is the Thunder; this game will go down to the last possession, so, you might be better taking the points.
