Fast Break Article 3/6/13 - Thunder Beating Lakers 122-105

            Last night we saw the Thunder beat the Lakers 122-105. There was a lot of interesting topics I noticed too.

            There was Westbrook scoring 37 points and then there was Dwight Howard not having a single FGA in the whole second half.

            Westbrook scoring 37 points (Guarded by Nash and then Kobe) was just fantastic. This shows how negative Nash can be for the Lakers. Every time Westbrook got the ball against Nash, he blew right past him or got an easy jumper.

     Everyone realized this, so Kobe came out to guard to Westbrook. That didn’t end well either. At Kobe’s age, it is hard for him to guard strong and fast guards like Westbrook. Therefore, Westbrook went off and won the game for the Thunder.

            I discussed the other topic in an article a couple days ago. Dwight Howard NEEDS more touches! Last night he had no field goal attempts in the second half! He is the most dominant center in the league! Get him the ball and let him score 20 points! Dwight has had success against Perkins too. In 40 games against Perkins, he averages 17.3 PPG. That’s 11 more points you could have gotten out of him.

            The final negative topic for the Lakers also involves defense. How could Kobe, Dwight, Metta World Peace, and the Lakers guards not cause more than 2 turnovers! Russell Westbrook averages 3.5 turnovers a game. This is just another sign of how bad the Lakers defense is.  

        There were some good things we saw last night for the Lakers. Nash was much more aggressive. He shot 15 shots and scored 20 points. That’s 6 more attempts and 8 more points than his season average.

            Earl Clark played well. He had 13 points and 11 rebounds against a great defender (Serge Ibaka). If Clark keeps playing well, the Lakers don’t need to rush Gasol.

            Lastly, I heard rumors of Dwight Howard texting Phil Jackson after the game. This can’t be good. Earlier in the season, Phil critiqued D’Antoni on his use of Dwight Howard. Dwight had to be complaining about his coach and his teammates.

            In conclusion, the Lakers still have the same problems, but do have some good parts to their game.