Oklahoma City Thunder vs. Los Angeles Lakers: Breaking Down the Game

This was the first game since the "big trade" that I had the fortune of watching (I missed the Orlando game because of a family function.)

I must say that today's performance left me cautiously optimistic about the Thunder's chances after trading away Jeff Green.

Much like the Spurs game from earlier in the week, this one had that play-off feel to it; unfortunately, much like the Spurs game, the Thunder also dropped a close one.

The first person I want to commend is Ron Artest. He's been featured in the media lately for his poor play, but today he was on his game while guarding Kevin Durant. Sure, Durant was able to muster 21 points, but he did so on 8-20 shooting (0-3 from three point) along with five turnovers.

This wouldn't of been a huge problem if he could have contributed on the glass like he has been recently, but he was ineffective with only four boards.

Speaking of great defensive performance, the two man team of Thabo Sefolosha and James Harden did a remarkable job of covering Kobe Bryant. Thabo deserves the bulk of the credit as he harassed Bryant into 8-22 shooting and 4 turnovers, but Harden played with almost the same intensity Sefolosha brings.

Thabo also, uncharacteristically, knocked down two huge threes early that helped clear out the paint for his friend Russell Westbrook.

Much like Durant and Kobe, Westbrook had a pretty average night for an All-Star, going for 22 points, six boards, six assists and seven turnovers. I felt like he could've had a much better game if the Thunder had some size to contend with Pau Gasol, Andrew Bynum and Lamar Odom.

Without Kendrick Perkins, the Thunder just couldn't stay with the game's best frontcourt for the full 48 minutes.

That size advantage was the biggest reason for the Lakers win. I'm not saying the Thunder would for sure win with a healthy Perkins, but as good as he is off the bench, Nick Collison has no business starting in this league.

Bynum and Gasol owned the glass and each added 16+ points with Bynum adding five blocks to his stat sheet. That kind of production from your bigs is what wins championships and the Thunder need to start getting that from Serge Ibaka and Kendrick Perkins, whenever Perk comes back.

However, I was very impressed with quite a few Thunder players that we don't usually see near as much as we did today.

First off, I thought Cole Aldrich showed a lot to today in a Nick Collison like performance. His three boards, one block and one steal stat line isn't going to jump off the page, but if he can continue developing towards doing that on a nightly basis the Thunder will have quite the formidable frontcourt rotation.

If he can give OKC 10 minutes of Collison-esque play, that means the Thunder can go five deep in their frontcourt rotation.

Obviously, this won't be something they do against every team, but going up against line-ups like the Lakers with that many bigs is going to give them a big chance to win.

Daequan Cook continues to improve his three point shooting, something the Thunder severely needs off the bench, but still needs to improve his defense. He's not terrible and you can't expect him to dominate a guy like Kobe, but he needs to learn to trust his help defense.

That said, he's not there to lock a guy down and with him taking and making threes it will help shore up one of the Thunder's biggest offensive weakness.

The final guy that really impressed me didn't play a minute today, Nate Robinson. When I saw the trade go through I was a little worried he could become a chemistry issue after going from bigger markets to one of the smallest.

Seeing him lead the bench in cheering for squad was a good sign to me. If the young guys on the team can win him over early and keep him from getting bored, they should be able to squash any problems with his attitude before they can happen.

I love games like this because they have a real play-off feel and can build confidence in a young team by showing them that they can compete with the best; that said, it's hard to build confidence if you don't win a few of the close ones. However, once they get their new pieces into the mix, I think OKC has a chance to become one of the best teams in the League.

Congratulations to the Lakers for winning a hard fought game, even when their star is misfiring. I can't wait to see L.A. again in a seven game series.