Picture Gallery (LAT)

May 19 - Los Angeles. The Lakers built a 10-point lead in the second quarter and kept it for most of the game, but at the end they run out of gas and the Thunder closed the fourth quarter with a 18-6 run to win 103-100 and take a 3-1 lead in their Western Conference Semifinals series.

Kobe Bryant had 38 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists. he made 2 free throws to tie it at 98 with 1:04 minutes to go. But Gasol committed a costly turnover with 33 seconds left, Kevin Durant stole his pass in a play that brought back bad memories from game 2 when KD did the same with a pass from Kobe in the final minutes. Durant then surprised everybody when he made a long 3-pointer with 13 seconds left to raise his personal count to 31 points and Kobe missed his own three seconds later.

After going to a game 7 in the first round of the Playoffs against Denver, playing the team's first back-to-back playoff games in 13 years was too much for the Lakers and at the end they couldn't sustain the level of energy of the first 3 quarters. Andrew Bynum had 18 points, 9 rebounds and 4 assists but Pau Gasol added just 10 points and they both disappeared at the end.

The Lakers couldn't stop Russell Westbrook who led the Thunder with 37 points, shooting 15-for-26. His 9 consecutive points for Oklahoma in a span of 2 and a half minutes closed the gap to 92-96 with 4:15 remaining, setting the stage for the recovery and for Durant heroics.