Lakers – Thunder Game 5…Thoughts

The Thunder are getting 5.5 points in this game…I think that’s a steal.

There has been a steady progression in this series – the Thunder going from a strong Laker victory, to a tight Laker victory (gm 2), to a solid come-from-behind win (gm 3), to a an absolute ass-whoopin of the Lakers in game 4.  This is a trend…in the stock market, often the best advice is ‘let the trend be your friend’.  Ride the wave, and that is the young, athletic, hungry, and cohesive Thunder vs. the older, slower, fractured, and injured Lakers, all fat with their rings minus Artest – who is a large part of that older-slower problem.

The Thunder far exceed the Lakers in speed & athleticism at PG – Westy vs. Fisher…SF – Durant vs. Artest…PF – Green vs. Pau…and Center when Ibaka is in…Ibaka vs. Bynum/Pau/Powell.  They will push the pace at all opportunities, led by one of the fatest and best at it in the game, Russell Westbrook. 

Don’t underestimate what the Thunder can become – a legendary team in the annals of NBA history.  An absurdly young, athletic, selfless group of guys possesed with a quiet confidence in what they can accomplish and who they can beat.  Contrast that with the aging, injured, ‘we all got rings’, quarrelsome, Laker squad.  And now add the dynamic of the weird Kobe persona being injured, creating another large distraction on the seemingly always drama-filled Laker team.

And I love that the Lakers are 17-0 in tied game fives…this is a stretched abnormality, statistical outlier, waiting to revert to the mean.

It just sets up as an epic turn in the powers of the West, a changing of the guard. 

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