Oklahoma City Thunder vs. Los Angeles Lakers: Reviewing the Battle in LA

Tonight, we saw the rematch of the two teams who provided one of the better first round playoff series in recent memory during the 2010 NBA Playoffs.

Those teams are, of course, the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Los Angeles Lakers.

Coming into the game, the Thunder had lost the last ten of their games at Los Angeles, including three in the aforementioned playoff series, but they had also won their last four games behind some outstanding offensive numbers.

They also had the benefit of catching the Lakers on the second night of back to back, which can sometimes be a difficult thing for older teams to do given the physical demands.

From the get-go, it was obvious that this was going to be a closely contested game and both teams came out on hot streaks on the offensive side.

For the first half, this was basically a showcase of each team's offensive ability while the defense was shuffled to the side.

In fact, it almost reminded me of an NBA All-Star Game with the caliber of defense these guys were playing. As the whistle sounded at halftime, the score stood at 58-55 Lakers, and it was clear that there was still a lot of ball left to play.

Going into the second half, the Lakers came out and showed the Thunder what a physical inside presence is and were able to get on quite the streak thanks to some excellent half court offense and even better defensive play.

However, as the game seemed to be poised on the edge of a blowout, the Thunder were able to overcome what was a 15-point deficit and trim the lead back to six points as the quarter ended.

From then on, the game was mostly a back and forth affair. For a time, I thought the Thunder might be able to take a lead with Kobe Bryant on the bench, but they just couldn't get away from the Lakers stifling defense.

When the 6:50 mark came around and Bryant reentered the game, a feeling of dread washed over me. As the best clutch scorer around came in, I figured the outcome was now decided—a Lakers win.

The Thunder gave it a valiant effort, but they just had too many missed shots down the stretch, particularly from Russell Westbrook, who missed his last three shots along with two key free throws.

Even in the loss, I found quite a few positives from this game.

First of all, it's nice to see Westbrook's continued development as a star second option on nights that Durant isn't at his best.

Durant did have a respectable game tonight, but Westbrook was the best player out there. He went off for 32 points and 12 assists, while Durant had 24 points and 8 rebounds. Those two weren't the only ones that played exceptionally well in the loss, though.

As I mentioned before, the Thunder were down by 15 points at about the mid-way mark in the third quarter. Almost right after they hit that point, Nick Collison was subbed in for Nenad Kristic. This was the move of the game by Scottie Brooks.

Since the Lakers were on the second night of a back to back, it was basically a given that at some point they would get tired and their play would slack a little bit. By inserting the much more athletic Collison and having him play along with Serge Ibaka, Brooks was able to create a tandem that would outwork the Lakers and give the Thunder a chance to come back.

Collison played amazing tonight with his eight points and five rebounds, but really, the stats will never do him justice. His hard work on Pau Gasol was the biggest reason for the third quarter turn around, but he wasn't alone as Ibaka contributed 11 points and 10 rebounds.

However, those were the only players that played well at all. Jeff Green played absolutely atrocious, going 0-for-5 from three-point land and only giving the Thunder 6 points and 3 steals; that just won't cut it for the guy who's supposed to be the teams third option.

Elsewhere, James Harden looked lost whenever he found himself in a half court offensive set. It was amazing to me to see how many times he ruined the team's spacing or else just stood there and did nothing.

I expect that from some guys on this team, but Harden has one of the better offensive IQs on this squad.

Nenad Kristci contributed a whopping four points and four boards; he was obviously outmatched against the skill of Pau Gasol and the athleticism of Andrew Bynum.

Even with all those guys playing unusually terrible, I felt like this game was lost because of how bad the Thunder shot threes. Now, it was a given that they would be outplayed down low because of the Lakers size advantage (even though they only out rebounded the Thunder by one, take that Chuck).

I also realize that the Thunder are one of the worst three point shooting teams in the League, but nine percent from deep? Are you kidding me?

You simply can't win when you shoot that badly; I'm pretty sure it's statistically impossible.

All in all, it wasn't a terrible game for the boys in blue and I fully expect them to continue to compete.

However, it's not going to get much easier as they head to Denver to face Carmelo and Nuggets.