Lakers Vs. Thunder: Complete Western Semifinals Series Coverage

Since then, the Sonics/Thunder (they moved to Oklahoma in 2008) have undertaken the exact trajectory that every team promises to every fan base during every rebuild -- they got really bad, and soon thereafter they got really good. In the five seasons after that 31-51 season and Presti’s arrival, the team has done the following:

So every team should do this, right? Just clear the decks, draft some stars and clear your May and June calendar for those deep playoff runs three or four seasons hence. Just follow the “OKC Model.”

On Monday night, the Oklahoma City Thunder hosted the Los Angeles Lakers, knowing they would need just one more victory to advance to the Western Conference final. The Lakers were determined to try to prevent that from happening and did their best to stave off elimination but, in the end, the Thunder were too quick, too young and just too talented to be denied. The Thunder won Game 5 and clinched the series by a final score of 106-90.

The Lakers trailed for much of the game but managed to keep things close and even took a lead for a brief time in the third quarter, but the Thunder buckled down and began to pull away. They just added to their lead throughout the fourth quarter and, before long, the Lakers were on the losing end of a blowout.

SB Nation’s Ben Golliver looks at the series so far and tonight’s potentially decisive game in his preview for SB Nation’s YouTube channel.

Golliver notes that the Lakers haven’t been far from the Thunder in the last three games of the series -- it’s Oklahoma City 276, Los Angeles 274 in the last 12 quarters of play -- and that eight teams in NBA history have come back from 3-1 deficits to win series.

Monday’s Game 5 is scheduled to tip off at 9:30 p.m. ET and will be broadcast on TNT.

But Bynum has no problem taking the ball from Kobe ... if he could only ever touch it. Kobe and Bynum were both on the court for the final 7:19 of the game. The Lakers led by nine when Bynum came in. The All-Star center would get one shot for the rest of the game. Kobe would take nine. Kobe had three times as many shots (the bulk of them forced, difficult shots) as Bynum had offensive touches over those seven minutes. Kobe even noted in the postgame that he was being forced into difficult shots ... yet he made little effort to get the ball to Bynum, who had been demanding doubles and could have opened the floor.

This was a different type of hero ball. It wasn’t uncreative one-on-five isolation for the sake of tradition and narrative. It was one guy asserting that even though his team had a substantial lead, the stories would read that he made the shots when it mattered most, that the Lakers lived by Kobe Bryant and died by Kobe Bryant. And die they did.

Saturday’s Game 4 is scheduled to tip off at 10:30 p.m. EDT and will be broadcast on TNT.

For more on the Lakers, head over to Silver Screen And Roll and SB Nation Los Angeles. For more on the Thunder, head over to Welcome To Loud City.

For the Lakers, you gotta think Game 2 was even more of a backbreaker than the 29-point Game 1 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Monday night. They were up seven points with two minutes left, sure, but more importantly, that’s as bad as the Thunder will ever look in this series. And the Lakers still couldn’t get the win.

Kevin Durant delivered, Kobe Bryant didn’t, and now the Thunder are headed to L.A. up 2-0. Or technically speaking, Kobe didn’t deliver, leaving the door open for Durant, and ... well, you know.

Really, it’s about the way the myth catches hold with the men who draw up the plays.

Blaming World Peace for this decision would have been crazy. Basketball is a game of improvisation and quick decision-making, and in seeing Westbrook turn his head, World Peace improvised brilliantly. Most coaches everywhere hope that they work with players enough that they possess the on-court aptitude to read the situation.

For more on the Lakers, visit Silver Screen And Roll and SB Nation Los Angeles. For more on the Thunder, visit Welcome To Loud City.

And it feels weird to say about a 29-point blowout, but it was fun to watch.

Exhibit A: Kobe Bryant began the game guarding Westbrook, just like we expected. But there were two problems. First, he might have been able to shut down Westbrook a few years ago, but Russ has taken his game to another level this year, and Kobe couldn’t touch him in the opening minutes.

The Lakers were trailing by 15 points at halftime, but things only got worse from there. While Los Angeles needed nothing more than to regroup and use their experience to take control, they instead fell behind by 30 points by the end of the third quarter. It was never close the rest of the way.

For more on the Lakers, visit Silver Screen And Roll and SB Nation Los Angeles. For more on the Thunder, visit Welcome To Loud City.

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↵Of course, the Thunder didn’t exist in 1995, so we had to substitute their previous incarnation, the Seattle SuperSonics (*pours out part of venti latte*). Watch the video, and please try to respect our scientific method even if your pigeon-brain can’t comprehend our higher mathematics.

Perkins started 65 games for the Thunder during the regular season and all four games in their first-round series against Dallas. In 26.8 minutes per game during the regular season, Perkins averaged 5.1 points and 6.6 rebounds per game.

Game 1 of Oklahoma City’s game against Los Angeles will tip off at 9:30 p.m. ET and can be seen on TNT.

The 2012 NBA Playoffs have been a dud so far. Everyone’s injured, the games have been sloppy and uneven and even the first round matchups that went seven games were somehow underwhelming. Now we’re two weeks in, and the Spurs/ Heat/Celtics all look like safe bets to roll with ease. So... yeah, we’re a long ways off from the Basketball Nirvana that came with last year’s playoffs.

But at the risk of jinxing things, LA-OKC could be our exception. You’ve got the dynasty of the past 5-10 years facing off against (maybe) the dynasty of the next 5-10, standing in their way like the Bad Boy Pistons against the early-90s Bulls. You’ve got Kobe Bryant and Kevin Durant, Metta World Peace against 20,000 angry Zombie Sonics fans, James Harden looking for revenge, the ongoing Andrew Bynum/Pau Gasol riddles and the Russell Westbrook’s ongoing war against his own instincts. Plus, there’s Scott Brooks and Mike Brown, two coaches helpless to stop things from descending into chaos at any point.

This is obviously great news for the Thunder, provided the re-assessment goes as planned, considering the added toughness Perkins brings to the block.

For more on the Lakers, visit Silver Screen And Roll and SB Nation Los Angeles. For more on the Thunder, visit Welcome To Loud City.