Lakers at Thunder
The Kobe Bryant retirement party got another highlight when Bryant dunked for the first time in over a year on Thursday, but the Los Angeles Lakers still lost by 20 points. Bryant will try to come up with enough magic to get his team a win when the Lakers visit the Oklahoma City Thunder on Saturday.
"My legs feel pretty good … felt lively, felt springy,” Bryant told reporters after the rare slam. "Then I jumped, and I was like, 'Oh, I'm still going up. And then I said, 'I might as well give it a try.'" Bryant brought the crowd to its feet and ended up with 22 points on 9-of-16 shooting, but Los Angeles suffered a 107-87 loss to the Houston Rockets to fall for the seventh time in eight games. The Thunder had a six-game winning streak come to an end with a loss at Cleveland on Thursday despite big games from Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and Serge Ibaka. “In the length of time of a game, not one team is just going to dominate every minute,” Oklahoma City coach Billy Donovan told reporters. “In a lot of ways it went back and forth. I give our guys credit. Our guys competed. I thought they played hard.”
TV: 5 p.m. ET, TWC SportsNet (Los Angeles), FSN Oklahoma
ABOUT THE LAKERS (4-22): While Bryant was thriving on Thursday, his presumptive replacement as Los Angeles’ go-to perimeter scorer, rookie guard D’Angelo Russell, was going 1-of-9 from the floor in 26 minutes. Russell moved back to the bench when Jordan Clarkson returned in Tuesday’s win over the Milwaukee Bucks, and his nine shot attempts on Thursday marked his fewest since a 3-of-7 effort at Dallas on Nov. 13. The two points marked a season-low for Russell, who scored in double figures in eight of the previous nine games.
ABOUT THE THUNDER (17-9): Durant went for 25 points against the Cavaliers and is shooting 55.7 percent from the floor over the last seven games. The former MVP is working better with the supporting cast since returning from a hamstring injury last month and is averaging 25.4 points in the last seven contests despite not attempting more than 17 field goals in any of those games. Westbrook handed out 10 assists on Thursday – the fourth time in seven games that he reached double figures.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Lakers F Julius Randle recorded a double-double in eight of the last 11 games.
2. Thunder G Anthony Morrow (undisclosed) missed Thursday’s game and is questionable for Saturday.
3. Oklahoma City has taken four straight and seven of eight in the series.