2012 NBA Playoffs: Los Angeles Lakers vs. Oklahoma City Thunder, Western Conference Semifinals, Game 3
Information about game 3 of the L.A. Lakers vs. Oklahoma City Thunder series in the 2012 NBA Playoffs, with score, recap, pictures, stats, highlights, quotes and Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol performance.
|
|||||||||
|
Game recap & pictures
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
May 18 - Los Angeles. This time Kobe Bryant was the clutch player everybody knows and the Lakers won 99-96 to stay alive in one of the Western Conference Semifinals. Oklahoma leads the series 2-1 and, unusually for the playoffs, game 4 will be played in less than 24 hours. Kobe scored 14 of his 36 points in the fourth quarter, making all his 18 free throw attempts. The Lakers as a team were almost perfect from the line making 41 of 42. L.A. started with the right foot with an 8-0 run and leading 16-4 seven minutes into the game. The Thunder reacted in the second period and scored 32 points to go to the halftime break trailing by three, 50-47. The Lakers bigs had strong games, especially at the defensive end. Andrew Bynum finished with 15 points and 11 rebounds and Pau Gasol added 12 points, 11 rebounds and 6 assists while Ramon Sessions and Steve Blake had 12 points each. Sessions had scored 2 points in each of the previous two games. In the fourth quarter the Lakers didn't repeat their performance from game 2 when they made all the wrong plays in the final minutes. Russell Westbrook's dunk with 2:54 to go gave the Thunder a 92-87 lead and with the risk of falling into a 0-3 hole from which no team has ever recovered in NBA history the Lakers execution was great and their defense better. Pau Gasol made two free throws, Kobe followed with a layup and then their perfect aim from the free throw line decided the game. Kevin Durant, who finished with 31 points missed a three-pointer that could have tied the scored with 4 seconds left. Before the game, Gasol received the Citizenship Award for his charity work as a UNICEF ambassador. World Peace (then Ron Artest) won the award last season. The Lakers have not play a back-to-back playoff game since May 22-23, 1999, in the second round against the Spurs during another shortened season shortened. |
|
The QuotesKobe Bryant (Lakers): "If it's an up-and-down game, we don't have a shot. 'We've got to just slow down the game. Play our pace, play our tempo, and we'll give ourselves a great opportunity." Pau Gasol (Lakers): "We continued to work, even when they got the lead a couple of times in the fourth quarter. It's in us. We want to win this series, we want to beat this team, and we will do whatever it takes. Obviously, we know how hard it is going to be, but we are ready for it." Kevin Durant (Thunder): "We can play any type of basketball. That's what's good about our team. We can play fast. We can play slow. That's what tonight was, and so was Game 2. But both games, we did a good job of fighting. Tonight, we just didn't come out on top." Scott Brooks (Thunder Coach): "We put them on the line. We can't do that. Down the stretch, you have to defend them without fouling and rebound the basketball. Unfortunately, we came up short." |
Highlights
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Complete Boxscore
Technical Fouls: PLAYERS: 3 LALAKERS ( M World Peace 1 ) OKCITY ( K Perkins 1, R Westbrook 1 ) - TEAMS (def3sec): None - COACHES: None Officials: Joe Crawford , Sean Wright , Zach Zarba Attendance: 18,997 Time of Game: 2:42 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||