OKLAHOMA CITY -- There's plenty of facets one can point to as the reason the Thunder were able to come away with the win in Game 4 -- bench play, fastbreak points, turnovers, rebounding -- but perhaps none of them illustrate the 21-point loss for the Lakers more concretely than Oklahoma City's 25-point advantage at the free-throw line.
The unguarded 15-foot shot has been a recurring cast member in the first four games of this dramatic best-of-seven series so far.
The story from the free-throw line in Game 1 for the Lakers was Kobe Bryant making only seven of 12 attempts. In Game 2, the focus was the sheer amount of attempts for both teams with L.A. taking 32 and Oklahoma City taking 33. The Game 3 free-throw tale was the Thunder's uneven 34-12 advantage in attempts and the fact Bryant didn't shoot one. Game 4 had the worst elements of Game 1 (the Lakers missed 11 of their 28 attempts) and Game 3 (Oklahoma City had 20 more attempts than Los Angeles did).
Pau Gasol is one of several Lakers who had a poor effort at the free-throw line Saturday.The 42 made free throws for Oklahoma City are the second most freebies ever made against Los Angeles in a postseason game. The Boston Celtics made 43 against the Lakers in Game 7 of the 1984 NBA Finals and L.A. lost that game too.
"We make our foul shots and we're OK in that ballgame," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. "We're down maybe five points or seven points if we make our free throws, like professional players should do."
Pau Gasol, a 79 percent free-throw shooter during the regular season, was three of six. Derek Fisher, who made 85.6 percent of his tries during the season, missed both attempts Saturday. Lamar Odom, who shot 69.3 percent, also missed his two attempts.
While Jackson called the free-throw disparity in Game 3 the "key factor" to the outcome, Ron Artest said the Thunder deserved their trips to the line Saturday.
"They were aggressive," Artest said. "You know, no excuses."
Quiet Bryant
After Jackson called Bryant "an attack player" before the game and spoke of plans to have Bryant penetrate the paint more often the way he did by going coast to coast to cut the Thunder lead to two points with 12 seconds left in Game 3, it was odd to see the 12-time All-Star zig when Jackson said the plan was to zag. Bryant did not attempt a single shot in the first quarter and the Lakers trailed by 12.
"I was managing the game exactly how I wanted to," Bryant said. "Unfortunately, it got away from us by them getting out in transition and getting those buckets, I wasn't able to do what I normally am able to do at the end of the game, closing things out and things like that. But I felt pretty good about the way I was managing it."
Bryant finished with 12 points on 5-for-10 shooting and dished out a team-high four assists. Bryant, who shot just 36.8 percent over the first three games of the series and 30 percent in the final three games he played in the regular season, reached the 50 percent shooting plateau for the first time since March 31.
"He wanted to get everybody involved in the game," Jackson said of Bryant's unselfish first quarter. "It was OK."
Bryant, who admitted his right knee that caused him to sit out two games at the end of the season was affecting his ability to drive to the basket, left the bench midway through the fourth quarter to receive a leg massage in the locker room.
"I have to do a boatload of treatment, so it's important for me to get in there and do it early, get ready for this flight, get home and get back on it," Bryant said.
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