I'm surprised people would be willing to back Lakers here...Sure OKC had enormous rest game 1, and Lakers were coming off an intense, tiring series, and OKC appeared to be shooting lights out, however...
OKC shot @ 53% while Lakers shot 10 less @ 43%. But an even important statistic here IMO is that Lakers shot a better % from downtown, and dropped 7 in (same as OKC). Now considering how good of a 3pt shooting team OKC team is and how horrific the Lakers are from distance, this will likely not be the case game 2 and OKC should very likely drop more 3's. So based on this, I don't think OKC shot as well as it would appear.
Another thing is, this was a 30 pt blowout (closer to 40 if starters didn't rest). Even if OKC doesn't shoot as well game 2, which they very well won't, they can still cover the -8 spread. The key thing that obviously hurt Lakers was the free throws, where OKC had twice as many. So the only way Lakers win or cover this spread is if that changes, and it's all dependent on Gasol and more importantly Bynum. By backing Lakers, you have to rely on a big game from the Lakers bigs and how involved they will be in the Lakers' offense. If Mike Brown can make these adjustments, and find a way to contain Westbrook, Lakers have a shot.
But considering all this, I would think OKC has the better chance of covering this game, as they simply have way more weapons than Lakers do.
OKC shot @ 53% while Lakers shot 10 less @ 43%. But an even important statistic here IMO is that Lakers shot a better % from downtown, and dropped 7 in (same as OKC). Now considering how good of a 3pt shooting team OKC team is and how horrific the Lakers are from distance, this will likely not be the case game 2 and OKC should very likely drop more 3's. So based on this, I don't think OKC shot as well as it would appear.
Another thing is, this was a 30 pt blowout (closer to 40 if starters didn't rest). Even if OKC doesn't shoot as well game 2, which they very well won't, they can still cover the -8 spread. The key thing that obviously hurt Lakers was the free throws, where OKC had twice as many. So the only way Lakers win or cover this spread is if that changes, and it's all dependent on Gasol and more importantly Bynum. By backing Lakers, you have to rely on a big game from the Lakers bigs and how involved they will be in the Lakers' offense. If Mike Brown can make these adjustments, and find a way to contain Westbrook, Lakers have a shot.
But considering all this, I would think OKC has the better chance of covering this game, as they simply have way more weapons than Lakers do.
