OKC Series was very telling....

[Spicoli]

Of how the Lakers play against a defensive oriented team. The Thunder were the only team the Lakers have faced, which had a defense-first philosophy similar to ours. I wanted to do a little research on this series to find out how exactly the Lakers fared against a team which applies pressure on them defensively and here is what i found:

For the entire series:

The Lakers shot 44.3% from the field and 33% from 3.

Kobe averaged 23.5 points on 42% shooting

The Lakers outrebounded OKC in 4 out of 6 games

OKC won the turnover battle in 4 out of 6 games

Westbrook averaged 22.5 points per game.


Here is my analysis of what all this means:

The Lakers do not have consistent 3 point threats

Kobe averaged the fewest points on the lowest percentage against OKC than against UTAH or Phoenix (two teams who do not play defense)

The Lakers size played a big factor in all of their wins as evidenced by the fact that they won the rebound battle 4 out of 6 times (our size will not allow them to dominate the glass as they did against OKC).

OKC was able to turn the Lakers over VERY FREQUENTLY, which led to a lot of points in transition. We are one of, if not the best team in the league at forcing turnovers. We should be able to turn them over just like OKC did, which will lead to a lot of transition opportunities for Rondo, Pierce, and Allen.

And finally, i thought the Westbrook stat was important, because i feel as though Rondo and Westbrook play more alike, than do Rondo and Williams or Rondo and Nash. Westbrook routinely shred their defense for easy layups and dunks. He ended up averaging 22.5 points per game against them on sheer speed and athleticism alone. Rondo not only has similar speed and athleticism, but he is a much greater facilitator, and he now has total control over the offense unlike Westbrook who is still learning the ropes in OKC. It's also worth noting that Westbrook did all this damage despite the fact that Durant was the only other scoring option on the team. Rondo has 3 other guys on his team who can score.

Before i did this little bit of research, i was a little worried about how we would matchup with them, seeing as though the only "clear" advantage we had was point guard. But now, after seeing how OKC played these guys extremely tough, and how Westbrook had his way with their defense (similar skill set to Rondo), i am feeling very optimistic about this series and how our overall team defensive concept will allow us to be victorious.