Thunder's Rout of Lakers Has Familiar Feeling for L.A.

Filed under: Lakers, Playoffs, Thunder

OKLAHOMA CITY -- With five minutes remaining Saturday night, Oklahoma City coach Scott Brooks looked up at the scoreboard.



The Thunder was beating the Lakers by 29 points. The Phil Jackson Lakers, not a Frank Hamblen version. In the playoffs, not the preseason.



"(It) did cross my mind that, 'Wow, we're up on the Lakers by 29," Brooks said. "And a big part of me thought that. You don't expect that. This is the defending champs. A lot of pride. A lot of talented players.''



It was indeed a magical evening at the Ford Center for a team playing just its second season here. But did the Thunder beat the Lakers by too much in tying the best-of-seven West first-round series at 2-2?



The final score was 110-89, and it wasn't as if Oklahoma City was firing up three-pointers at the end. But the margin was enough that one prominent Laker already was plotting his revenge afterward in the locker room.



"Yes, to me it does,'' center Pau Gasol said in an interview with FanHouse about the walloping getting his attention. "It gets me going. We needed to take advantage of the rest we have in between. But it really puts me in a place where I'm ready to go for Tuesday (in Game 5) and send them a message. ... Maybe (a lopsided loss will be good for the Lakers). Right now, that has to be in our mind, and making sure that we win in L.A. and we win it convincingly. (To send a message) would be good. I think that would be appropriate.''

 

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Full story at http://nba.fanhouse.com/2010/04/25/thunder-deliver-the-unexpected-lakers-need-to-rebound-from-mel/