Game Countdown – 12/22/09: Thunder @ Lakers

VS.

Counting down to the Thunder-Lakers game hoping the Lakers can keep Kevin Durant in a slump.

Oklahoma City Thunder (13-13) @ Los Angeles Lakers (22-4)

Game Info: 7:30 PM PT TV-Fox Sports West Radio-710 AM, 1330 AM

THREE Questions:

• Can the Lakers keep Kevin Durant down?  The Durantula has scored under 20 points in two of his last three games so the Lakers are catching him at a good time.  Durant has only scored under 20 two other times this year and one of them was the last time these teams met, so things bode quite well for the Lakers in this one.
• At what point do the Lakers consider starting Lamar Odom over Andrew Bynum?  Drew’s play continues to be rather uninspired and a motivational benching could be the wake up call he needs, though it would be highly risky to further weaken the Laker bench.
• Can the Lakers stay focused or will they get caught looking ahead to their big Christmas Day showdown with LeBron, Shaq and the Cavaliers?

TWO Predictions:

• Someone other than Pau Gasol will lead the Lakers in rebounding.  Hopefully that person will be Andrew Bynum, but I wouldn’t hold my breath.
• Glad to be home from their first long road trip of the season, the Lakers show some consistent energy and beat the Thunder by more than 15 points.

ONE Match-up to Watch:

• Russell Westbrook vs. the Laker point guards.  Westbrook played well in the game OKC nearly won early in the year but struggled mightily when the Lakers blew the Thunder out.  This game seems destined to go however Westbrook goes since OKC is smart enough to try and exploit the Lakers’ biggest weakness.

ZERO Tolerance for… playing down to the Thunder’s level.  The Lakers have had a bad habit of letting lesser opponents dictate the game lately.  They usually are able to flip the switch and win in the end, but the Lakers tried that once already against OKC this season and ended up needing overtime to pick up the victory.  Let’s not tempt fate again tonight.

Leave your own questions, answers, predictions or wishes as a comment or just hang out with us during the game or hit us up on Twitter @LakersOfFire.

Tags: Andrew Bynum, Game Countdown, Kevin Durant, Lamar Odom, Oklahoma City Thunder, Pau Gasol, Russell Westbrook