LA Lakers vs Oklahoma City Thunder Game 6 NBA Playoffs 2010 Picks & Predictions: After everyone was ready to bury the champs, people’s perception is that the (3-2) Los Angeles Lakers [+1] have regained their championship form following a destruction of the (2-3) Oklahoma City Thunder [-1] in Game 5. With a chance to close out the feisty Thunder in front of their home crowd tonight, the Lakers’ championship poise will be put to the rest. Have the Lakers found that extra gear everyone’s been talking about? Well just have to wait and find out.
“I think everybody knows what's at stake, and we'll come out and we'll play much better,” said Nick Collison. “We realize that the little things that we've done to get us to this point is what we need to do to have a chance against them.”
This game has an opening tipoff slated for 9:30 PM ET (6:30 PM PT) live from the Ford Center in Oklahoma City, OK, and it’ll be broadcasted live on ESPN. According to NBA Playoffs 2010 Picks & Predictions experts at SBGGLOBAL.com, the OVER/UNDER for the LA Lakers vs the Oklahoma City Thunder is set at a combined total of 194½ points scored.
For the Lakers, they finally looked like the team that defeated the Orlando Magic in five games last season in the NBA Finals. With a dominating performance that got underway from the opening tipoff, the Lake Show cruised to a rather easy, 111-87 victory. The Lakers must now go into a place where they haven’t necessarily played well in this season and try and close out a young, but pumped Thunder team.
“It's all about emotion and adrenaline and doing everything you can to make sure you don't get off to a bad start,” Derek Fisher said. “So for us, it will be a matter of standing up in the face of that surge that's going to come at the beginning of the game. You can expect it, there's no doubt about it. And it's just a matter of how prepared we are to stand up in it, face it, deal with it, and then pace the game in the way that works best for us.
“But it will be a night full of emotion, and we'll have to be the team that keeps our emotions and our poise in check the most.”
For OKC, one of the biggest adjustments the Lakers have made this series was putting Kobe Bryant on Russell Westbrook. “If it's a game where we're not making shots, and we have to get back to defense from missed shots, that changes everything up,” Phil Jackson said. “Kobe's not going to have Westbrook on him, so obviously he's got to find the cross-match and to find Westbrook in that transition is different.”
The move not only affected Westbrook negatively, as he committed 8 turnovers, but it also stalled the Thunder offense. Nevertheless, Westbrook downplayed having The Black Mamba guarding him.
“I don't think he's like the best defender in the NBA to where I'm like, 'OK, Kobe's guarding me now,' and I tighten up,” Westbrook said. So what does the Coach of the Year have to counter the Lakers’ defensive move?
“It's just something that we're going to have to show on the court,” Scott Brooks said. “We have some things in mind that we have to do a better job of, but Russell has to stay with his game. It can never be Russell versus Kobe. If that's the case, we're going to be in trouble.”
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