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February 10th - Oklahoma City Thunder (13-38) at LA Lakers (41-9)
Zeb from Blue Blitz, an OKC Thunder blog stopped by for a chat...
Behind Enemy Lines: OKC Thunder
With Malice (Don): The Thunder are actually playing some excellent basketball of late, what's the secret?
 Blue Blitz (Zeb): The secret is finding the ideal lineup. Early in the season, we started Earl Watson, and - at times - Robert Swift. Nick Collison was playing horribly, and Kevin Durant couldn't get anything but points playing at SG. Russell Westbrook was still very rookie-ish and all he did was drive to the hole every play. Damien Wilkins got minutes, and every single game he'd go for like 2 of 8 shooting with 2 rebounds. It was just a matter of rising the cream to the top and finding out which roles the cream play best in.
WM: The Lakers have played some pretty good ball of late too - what's the feeling with the Thunder headed to the Staples Center to play them?
BB: Well, I don't know about anyone else, but I sense total disaster. About a week or two ago, we lost Desmond Mason. He was the big defensive stopper on the team, and without him our team is horrible at playing defense. Sure, our wins and losses have looked the same... but we lost to a Billups-less Nuggets, a horrible Sacramento team, and a Jazz team that was missing Boozer and AK47.
Our wins have come against a less-than-impessive looking Portland, and that same horrible Kings team. So, while some think we're the same without Mason, I have a feeling that once we face the Lakers, we will get hit by a big wall of defense and lose by 30 or more. On the birght side, I hope I get to see Saer Sene play tonight.
WM: Can Kevin Durant bench press more now?
BB: Heh, I'm not much of a "how much can so and so bench press" type of guy, but I assume he can.
WM:What will the Lakers have to do to ensure a victory against the OKC Thunder?
BB: Our main weakeness is that our scoring is concentrated in 3 guys: Russell Westbrook, Kevin Durant, and Jeff Green. If you can shut one of them down for the night offensively and make sure a role player doesn't explode, you should be in business. So, focus your defense on those three guys, and no one else. Offensively, go crazy, becuase if we can't stop the Kings for more than a quarter, then we sure as hell can't stop the Lakers.
Be sure to head over to Blue Blitz and discover their take on the game...
*****
The thing that I find most amazing about LA is the dichotomy that exists within the team. They can go into Boston or Cleveland, win... yet at times beating the lower teams provides more of a struggle. Put Cleveland at home against one of the teams from the lower echelons of the NBA, and they'll win by 30+. LA? Well... often it's a single digit win.
Oh... you missed my point initially? I didn't mean "amazing" in a good way...
Anyway, the Lakers should destroy Oklahoma City. They should. Don't get me wrong: I like what they're doing recently and just quietly: Kevin Durant's having one helluva season. But LA should absolutely demolish them at home in the Staples Center. But... it won't surprise me if they don't.
 If this Laker team is ready to take the next step to becoming an NBA champion team, then they have to put the foot on the neck of a lesser opponent and absolutely crush the life out of them. No mercy, and play this game with the same intensity you brought to Boston. Focus on this game like you did before stepping on the court of the Q. But of late (read: most of this season), LA only pulls away from these teams (if at all) late in the 3rd quarter, sometimes into the 4th.
Seeing the Lakers take it right to Boston, and be more physical... out-nasty the team that was at that point the most physical, nasty team in the NBA was immensely gratifying.
Seeing Odom jawing at KG? Food for the soul. Bring it on, give me more.
LA rising to the challenge in the Q? Where no-one not named the Cleveland Cavaliers had won this season? A veritable smorgasbord of delight. Please sir, may I have another?
So... what is it I'm after?
No more lackadaisical-Lakers against the standings-challenged teams within the Association! Get that killer instinct, that icey-cold murderous look  from the beginning of the game! Show some hustle, some intensity. Some drive. Be absolutely without mercy against teams that should be shattered... shredded.
Hey! Look! Kevin Durant and the Oklahoma City Thunder are in town - let's start with them!
Go get 'em Lakers!
Sic 'em!
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