Series Index:

Game 1: Lakers 87, Thunder 79 at Los Angeles		Game recap & pictures
Game 2: Lakers 95, Thunder 92 at Los Angeles		Game recap & pictures
Game 3: Thunder 101, Lakers 96 at Oklahoma City		Game recap & pictures
Game 4: Thunder 110, Lakers 89 at Oklahoma City		Game recap & pictures
Game 5: Lakers 111, Thunder 87 at Los Angeles		Game recap & pictures
Game 6: Lakers 95, Thunder 94 at Oklahoma City		Game recap & pictures

Picture Gallery (LAT)

April 30 - Oklahoma City. The Lakers had to suffer until the final buzzer but they managed to get rid of the Thunder with a 95-94 victory at Oklahoma City.

The Lakers had things under relative control for most of the fourth quarter until a 3-pointer by Kevin Durant launched a 10-0 run that put the Thunder ahead 94-91 with 2:30 remaining. Kobe ended the drought with a long 2-point shot and with his team down by one 93-94 and one second left, he took what was supposed to be L.A.'s final shot, a baseline jumper from the right, but he missed and Pau Gasol appeared from nowhere, grabbed the rebound and with just 5 tenths of a second left scored the winning basket.

Russell Westbrook had a final chance but missed a forced 3-point attempt.

For Gasol it was his only basket of the second half to end with just 9 points but it was in part because the Thunder defended well the paint most of the time and the Lakers kept on shooting and making three pointers (12-for-24). He also was very active on the defensive end and grabbed 18 rebounds.

Kobe Bryant scored 32 points, 16 of them in the third quarter when he was absolutely on fire and kept L.A. on the game while the Thunder momentarily found the way to run their fastbreak, something that had caused L.A. much damage in previous games. Oklahoma City won the third quarter 26-23 but Derek Fisher's three with 16 seconds left gave L.A. a 76-73 margin to start the fourth. Fisher, who during the series had many problems when assigned to contain Russell Westbrook (21 points), had 11 points that included three of six 3-pointers and 6 assists. Shannon Brown added 11 points in 15 minutes and despite nobody else scored more than 11 many players made timely contributions and the bench as a group provided 30 points.

For Durant, the NBA's youngest scoring champion, it was a very hard night. Maybe the worst in a series that wasn't good for him at all. Artest got into his head from game 1 and by game 6 he had Durant completely dominated. Despite leading his team with 26 points, KD got most of them from the free throw line, missing 18 of 23 field goal attempts, something very unusual for him and the third worst performance in NBA playoffs history with 20 field goals attempted.

This way the Lakers defeated a very young group of players that gave them more than one headache with their speed and their team defense and that has a bright future ahead.

L.A. advanced to the Conference semifinals where they will play the Utah Jazz who have won their series with Denver 4-2.

The Quotes

Phil Jackson (LAL Coach): "This is the playoffs. This is what it's about. When you have teams that have won 50 games in the course of a season like this Thunder team did, they have a sense of pride about them. They can play a game that's obviously not far off of what our mark is or was this season. We said it was going to be tough, and it was a tough series."

Kobe Bryant (Lakers): "Pau didn't quit on the play. He just kept playing. He's done that numerous times in the playoffs. Last year I missed a couple of shots, but he's right there to follow it up."

Pau Gasol (Lakers): "It was tough to get a bucket because both defenses were just playing super hard and giving it all out there. The last shot, I kept battling, kept hustling. I didn't have a good second half, I didn't have my best shooting night but I continued to work and continued to be effective rebounding and just keeping balls alive. Luckily, I pursued that ball and put it in and we won the ballgame."

Ron Artest (Lakers): "Everyone expected us to be this greatest team since sliced bread, but we aren't playing like that. It's great for us to get through it and understand that we're not the best thing since sliced bread. We actually have to work."

Kevin Durant (Thunder): "I'm a competitor. I want to win every game I play. I want to be a champion, and stuff like this hurts. I work so hard, we work so hard as a group, that I think that every time we step on the floor we should win."

Highlights

Complete Boxscore