Game 2 between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Oklahoma City Thunder takes place tonight in Oklahoma. The game is scheduled for a 9:30 pm start time and it will be televised live on TNT. Currently the odds have Oklahoma City favored by 8 points with the total sitting at 195.5 points for the contest.
Free Analysis: The Thunder demolished the Lakers in Game 1, and will look to repeat the feat on Wednesday night. Offensively, L.A. wasn’t horrible in Monday's 119-90 blowout loss. SG Kobe Bryant and C Andrew Bynum each scored 20 points and the team tallied at least 21 points in each quarter. Bryant (7-of-18 FG) didn’t have a great game though with just three rebounds, two assists and three turnovers. Bynum made 7-of-12 shots and 6-of-6 free throws, while grabbing a game-high 14 rebounds. But no other Lakers player performed up to his capabilities. PF Pau Gasol had a pedestrian 10 points, seven rebounds, while SF Metta World Peace scored 12 points, but had just two rebounds in his 32 minutes of action. PG Ramon Sessions was downright horrible with two points on 1-of-7 shooting and just three assists in 26 minutes. And after shining with 19 points (5-of-6 threes) in Game 7 versus Denver, backup PG Steve Blake had zero points (0-for-1 FG) , but he did tally a team-high four assists.Defensively is where they suffered on Monday as they allowed 53% shooting overall and 41% from downtown, while forcing just 1 steal and 4 TO's overall in the game. Pretty amazing considering the Thunder were one of the worst in the league as far as TO's committed. The Lakers are 16-28 ATS this year on 1 days rest. Oklahoma City is 29-7 (18-18 ATS) at home and 28-11 (20-19 ATS) with one day of rest. L.A. had no answer for either PG Russell Westbrook (27 points, nine assists, seven rebounds) or SF Kevin Durant (25 points, eight rebounds, four assists). No Thunder player logged 30 minutes , so this team will again be fresh, even with just 1 days rest. The team shot a blistering 53% FG, 41% threes and 83% from the line. SG James Harden pumped in 17 points in just 24 minutes off the bench despite missing all four of his three-point tries. No other Thunder player had more than eight points, but nine others made at least one field goal. The big-men duo of C Kendrick Perkins and PF Serge Ibaka combined for a meager 10 points and five rebounds in 37 minutes, but each blocked two shots. This duo had combined for 21.0 RPG and 6.3 BPG during the regular season versus the Lakers.
Free Pick: After taking care of the defending champs in 4 games the Thunder opened up their series with the Lakers by winning by 29 points. The Lakers are a tired bunch right now and the Thunder knows it, so you can expect them to keep the pace high and that will again wear this team down in the 2nd half. Oklahoma city scores 106.1 ppg at home, and will be facing a Lakers team that has allowed 105 pgg in their last 4 games and 99.6 ppg on the road this year. The Thunder will not be as pumpedd for this one as in game 1, but they have now seen Boston and Miami lose home court advantage so far in round 2 and you can bet that they will not allow that to happen here. The Lakers may stay with this team in the 1st half, but they will again tire in the 2nd half and that will lead to another easy DD win by the Thunder here.
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