Picture Gallery (LAT)

April 27 - Staples Center, Los Angeles. Three days of rest at home made all the difference for Kobe Bryant and the Lakers who looked rejuvenated and rebounded from back-to-back losses to regain control of the series with an emphatic 111-87 win over the Thunder.

Kobe had 13 points and 7 assists in three quarters and spent most of the time feeding the big men Pau Gasol who had 25 points and Andrew Bynum who added 21. Both grabbed 11 rebounds.

Phil Jackson made adjustments from previous games sending a rested Kobe to guard the speedy point guard Russell Westbrook and moved Gasol a couple steps away from the paint to give Ron Artest (14 points) more freedom to attack inside. Those changes proved to be positive from the beginning. The Thunder could almost never use their fastbreak which had been very effective in previous games and were completely dominated in the paint. The Lakers opened the game with a 14-1 run that included 8 points by Bynum, led 31-16 after the first quarter and were up by 21 (55-34) by halftime. Then it was Gasol's time who scored 15 points in the third quarter to help seal the victory. L.A. led by as many as 33 points. The final period was just playing time for the reserves and more rest for Kobe and company.

Kevin Durant, the current scoring champion got just 17 points on 5-for-14 shooting with Artest all over him all the time and Westbrook added 15, missing 9 of 13 shots for an Oklahoma City team that could never recover after missing its first 13 shots.