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Oklahoma City Thunder defeat LA Lakers 77-75. The Lakers played the game they needed to play. They slowed the tempo, turned the Thunder into a jump-shot team and limited the transition buckets. Despite all of that, the Lakers still lost.
With just over two minutes left in regulation, an Andrew Bynum turnaround bucket in the paint gave the Lakers the 75-68 forcing the Thunder to use a timeout. The Lakers wouldn't score again.
All of a sudden the Lakers couldn't hold onto the ball and became a perimeter team. Andrew Bynum was a beast in the paint with 20 points going against a clearly hobbled Kendrick Perkins and outmatched Serge Ibaka and Nazr Mohammed. Even Pau Gasol had a little piece of the action with 14 points and 11 rebounds.
But Kobe Bryant took contested perimeter shots, each missing the mark. Then with the Thunder leading by one with 5.7 seconds remaining, the set play went to Steve Blake in the corner who took the three. To that point Blake was 1-for-4 shooting, all from behind the three-point line.
He missed, and so the Lakers missed their chance to steal one in the prairie. Instead there will be a lot of "what ifs" making everyone speculate whether losing by another 29 points would have been better for the collective psyche of the team.
The series heads to Los Angeles on Friday and Saturday.
San Diego Padres defeat LA Dodgers 4-2. The Dodgers got two runs in the first inning, but a two-run rally by the Padres against Chris Capuano in the sixth inning was too much for the patchwork Dodger lineup to come back on.
LA Angels defeat Chicago White Sox 7-2. After getting Mickey Hatcher fired, Albert Pujols kept the fire going from his 3-for-4 night on Tuesday with a three-run homer in the third inning off of Gavin Floyd. After a strange rain-delayed outing in Texas on Friday, Angels' starter Jerome Williams continued his career resurgence going eight innings giving up two runs on 10 hits. Pujols went 1-for-4 with that homer raising his batting average to .213.
TONIGHT'S ACTION
Phoenix Coyotes at LA Kings. 6:00 p.m. NBC Sports Net, AM 1150 KTLK.
LA Clippers at San Antonio Spurs. 6:30 p.m. ESPN, AM 980 KFWB.
Chicago White Sox at LA Angels. 12:35 p.m. FSWest, AM 830 KLAA.
LA Dodgers at San Diego Padres. 7:05 p.m. FS Prime Ticket, AM 570 KLAC.
