NBA Playoffs 2012: 5 Reasons Oklahoma City Thunder Walloped Los Angeles Lakers

Many experts thought that the younger and higher-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder would take Game 1 in the Western Conference semifinals over the Los Angeles Lakers, en route to winning the series.

Few expected the margin of victory to be 29 points.

Here are five reasons the Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Lakers by that much.

13 Steals

The Thunder were plus-11 in turnover margin in Game 1, and plus-16 in points off turnovers.  

That's half the margin of victory right there.

Why was the turnover margin so great?  Because the Lakers had one steal, but the Thunder had 13, including eight off the bench.

Russell Westbrook, Derek Fisher, Thabo Sefolosha, James Harden, Royal Ivey and Nick Collison each had two steals for the Thunder.

Murder at the Point

Steals weren't the only area that OKC's point guards Russell Westbrook and Derek Fisher (who started the season a Laker) ran roughshod over the Lakers.

Lakers' points Ramon Sessions and Steve Blake were 1-of-9 on the night, with only a single three-point attempt and had only two points.

Fisher and Westbrook combined for 32 points and 11 assists.

Speed and Transition

We saw this against Denver in Games 5 and 6 of the first round, and we're seeing it again here: The Lakers are very bad against defending transition.

The Lakers didn't have a single fast-break point in the game.  Oklahoma City had 13.

Another Off Night for Gasol and Bynum

For the Lakers to win, they need about 40 total points and 20 total rebounds from Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol on much better than .500 shooting.

While the rebounds were there (they out-rebounded Ibaka and Perkins 21-5), Gasol and Bynum only laid in 30 of the proverbial 40 and were flirting with .500 shooting for the night.

If the Lakers want to win, they need more from these two.

Lakers Lost Star Wars

Kevin Durant had 25 points, five more than Kobe Bryant.

However, Durant made one more basket while taking two fewer shots.  He also grabbed five more boards.

Kobe only shot 38.9 percent from the field on the night.

Consider also that Durant is eviscerating Kobe in playoff PER this season, 26.6 against 22.7. And it's been proven that when Kobe's PER goes down, he takes the Lakers down with it.