2012 NBA Playoffs: Los Angeles Lakers vs. Oklahoma City Thunder, Western Conference Semifinals, Game 5

Information about game 5 of the L.A. Lakers vs. Oklahoma City Thunder series in the 2012 NBA Playoffs, with score, recap, pictures, stats, highlights, quotes and Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol performance.

2012 NBA Playoffs Western Conference Semifinals
Los Angeles Lakers vs. Oklahoma City Thunder

G.1: Thunder 119, Lakers 90 - at Oklahoma City G.2: Thunder 77, Lakers 75 - at Oklahoma City G.3: Lakers 99, Thunder 96 - at Los Angeles G.4: Thunder 103, Lakers 100 - at Los Angeles G.5: Thunder 106, Lakers 90 - at Oklahoma City		Game recap & pictures Game recap & pictures Game recap & pictures Game recap & pictures Game recap & pictures

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GAME 5: L.A. Lakers 90 - Oklahoma City Thunder 106

Leaders	Points	Rebounds	Assists
Lakers	Bryant: 42	Gasol: 16	World Peace: 5
Thunder	Westbrook: 28	Perkins: 11	3 Players: 4

	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Tot
LAL	21	30	26	13	90
OKC	26	28	29	23	106

Picture Gallery (LAT)

May 22 - Oklahoma City. Kobe Bryant scored 42 points but he was mostly alone while Russell Westbrook, Kevin Durant and James Harden combined for 70 and the Thunder won 106-90 to finish this series 4-1 and advance to Western Conference Finals.

Pau Gasol started the game attacking strong and grabbing every rebound available but despite finishing with 14 points and 16 rebounds, he and Andrew Bynum combined for just 7 points in the second half.

With Kobe on fire the Lakers gave fight until the end of the third quarter but he started the fourth resting on the bench, watching how Oklahoma scored 8 consecutive points in a minute and a half, including 2 three-pointers by Durant. When he re-entered the game it was too late, the Lakers were trailing 77-91 and would never recover.

As it happened in the previous games the Lakers never found a way to slow down Westbrook or contest his mid-range jumpers. He scored at will and finished with 28 points. Durant added 25 and Harden 17 from the bench. Derek Fisher, who was discarded by L.A.'s managment, didn't have to wait longer to get his revenge and as leader for these young Thudner players will be playing the Western Conference Finals against the San Antonio Spurs.

This way finished and tumultuous 2012 season for the Lakers: they decided to replace Phil Jackson with Mike Brown, a coach that doesn't seem to be up to the challenge and blamed the players for the defeat in the press conference; they tried to trade Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom for Chris Paul but the NBA vetoed the trade, then traded Odom and Derek Fisher and kept Gasol guessing for most of the season. A lot of disrespect for those players and for Kobe Bryant, their biggest star and the only one that even in defeat shows pride during 48 minutes. And all this the Lakers have done with the confidence that their future is Andrew Bynum. but Bynum clearly showed that he doesn't have the mentality or the attitude to be a franchise player and since he is young, if that moment eventually arrives it won't be any time soon.

The Quotes

Mike Brown (LAL Coach): "We're asking our bigs to do a lot but I know for sure we could have gotten more scoring from those two guys in the offensive rebounding category ... and we could have gotten more from our bench"

Kobe Bryant (Lakers): "I'm not fading into the shadows.... I'm not going anywhere.... We're not going anywhere.... We've built title teams pretty quickly....We just have to do it again.… Come hell or high water, we're going to be there again"

Pau Gasol (Lakers): "Obviously I would like to continue to work and fight for this franchise and help it as much as I can. But I don't know if that's mutual or not."

Kevin Durant (Thunder): "We know that's the most important time of the game, especially in a tight game. 'I think that we kept our composure throughout the fourth, and our poise and we made plays."

Highlights

Los Angeles Lakers

Oklahoma City Thunder

Leaders:	Pts	Reb	Ast	St	Bl	More
Kobe Bryant	42	5	-	2	-
Pau Gasol	14	16	2	-	3
M. World Peace	11	3	5	2	-
Andrew Bynum	10	4	-	1	-
Ramon Sessions	8	5	3	-	1

Leaders:	Pts	Reb	Ast	St	Bl	More
Russell Westbrook	28	3	4	2	-
Kevin Durant	25	10	4	2	-
James Harden	17	8	4	1	-
Serge Ibaka	8	6	1	-	3
Nazr Mohammed	7	1	-	-	-

Complete Boxscore

LOS ANGELES LAKERS
Starters	Min	FG	3P	FT	Off	Def	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	+/-	Pts
Kevin Durant, SF	43	9-21	2-6	5-6	0	10	10	4	2	0	2	0	+25	25
Serge Ibaka, PF	19	4-10	0-0	0-1	5	1	6	1	0	3	0	2	0	8
Kendrick Perkins, C	33	3-6	0-0	0-0	4	7	11	2	0	2	3	5	+17	6
Thabo Sefolosha, SG	16	1-5	0-3	2-2	0	2	2	2	2	0	2	2	-2	4
Russell Westbrook, PG	39	12-25	0-1	4-6	1	2	3	4	2	0	1	2	+25	28
Bench	Min	FG	3P	FT	Off	Def	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	+/-	Pts
Derek Fisher, PG	17	1-4	0-1	2-2	0	2	2	1	0	0	1	2	+4	4
Nazr Mohammed, C	9	3-3	0-0	1-2	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	2	-9	7
Royal Ivey, PG	2	0-1	0-0	1-2	0	1	1	1	0	0	0	1	-1	1
Nick Collison, PF	23	3-4	0-0	0-0	2	4	6	1	0	1	1	3	+13	6
Lazar Hayward, F	2	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	-1	0
Daequan Cook, SG	5	0-1	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	-9	0
Cole Aldrich, C	2	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	-1	0
James Harden, G	31	6-10	1-2	4-4	1	7	8	4	1	0	1	3	+19	17
Totals		42-90	3-13	19-25	14	37	51	20	7	6	11	22		106
Percentages:		46.7%	23.1%	76.0%
Fast break points: 30 Points in the paint: 50 Team TO ( points off ): 12 (15) +/- denotes team's net points while the player is on the court.

OKLAHOMA CITY THUNDER
Starters	Min	FG	3P	FT	Off	Def	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	+/-	Pts
Metta World Peace, SF	38	4-5	1-2	2-2	0	3	3	5	2	0	0	4	-16	11
Pau Gasol, PF	44	5-14	0-1	4-5	2	14	16	2	0	3	3	1	-13	14
Andrew Bynum, C	35	4-10	0-0	2-3	0	4	4	0	1	0	0	5	-16	10
Kobe Bryant, SG	41	18-33	1-6	5-7	0	5	5	0	2	0	2	3	-14	42
Ramon Sessions, PG	41	1-6	0-1	6-8	0	5	5	3	0	1	6	5	-9	8
Bench	Min	FG	3P	FT	Off	Def	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	+/-	Pts
Troy Murphy, PF	1	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Steve Blake, PG	15	0-1	0-1	1-1	0	0	0	1	1	0	1	0	-8	1
Josh McRoberts, PF	2	0-1	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	+1	0
Jordan Hill, C	7	1-1	0-0	0-0	1	1	2	0	0	0	0	4	-7	2
Andrew Goudelock, G	1	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Devin Ebanks, SF	16	1-4	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	2	+2	2
Darius Morris, G	1	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
Matt Barnes, SF	DNP COACH'S DECISION
Totals		34-75	2-11	20-26	3	32	35	12	6	6	12	24		90
Percentages:		45.3%	18.2%	76.9%
Fast break points: 6 Points in the paint: 46 Team TO ( points off ): 12 (12) +/- denotes team's net points while the player is on the court.

Flagrant Fouls: 1 LALAKERS ( M World Peace 1 )
Technical Fouls: PLAYERS: 3 OKCITY ( R Westbrook 1 ) LALAKERS ( M World Peace 1, K Bryant 1 ) - TEAMS (def3sec): OKCITY (1) - COACHES: None
Officials: Scott Foster , Tom Washington , John Goble
Attendance: 18,203
Time of Game: 02:31

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