devil1197 wrote:
I wouldn't even say their more talented than OKC right now. Their a better team but OKC has some serious young talent that, when playing well together, can be very dangerous.
OKC has two major mis matches that aren't even close right now with Durant and Westbrook. Those two guys have the ability to create a big point differential at their respective positions just as Durant is doing tonight against Artest who continues to shoot like shit.
LAL's bigs are better, much more talented but they cannot control the games like guards can. Those two guys need their teammates to give them the ball and to set them up. Sure they can take games over, but sometimes the LAL guard forget that they are on the court.
Kobe hasn't been Kobe lately. I figure he'll turn it around sooner or later, but right now he doesn't have the Black Mamba in him.
Then you look at the bench production. Tonight 29-18 in favor of OKC and Game 3 26-14 in favor of OKC. The Thunder have been getting better bench production lately.
Its not even about Kobe right now, well its not all about Kobe. The Lakers are just flat out not playing smart basketball. They have an overwhelming advantage inside with Bynum and Gasol but they refuse to use it. As a collective they have taken on the personality of Lamar Odom. Like Odom they have reached 85% of their potential, and that is good enough to win, a lot. But like Odom they can't be bothered to work hard to achieve their full potential. last year they took on Kobe's personality and received a championship in the bargain. They need to follow Kobe again but he doesn't seem able to impose his will on a team full of content stars who need their ego's massaged to try hard.
