by Marcel Mutoni / @marcel_mutoni
With two minutes to go in a hotly contested Game 2, the victory seemed fairly secure for the Los Angeles Lakers last night. They were up by seven points, had held the explosive OKC Thunder in check, and seemed on the verge of tying up the series at 1 game apiece heading back to Hollywood.
But, then, doom arrived at the Lakers’ doorstep.
Kobe Bryant started coughing up the rock, Kevin Durant and James Harden scored quickly and easily, and Steve Blake missed the potential game-winning shot.
Andrew Bynum — who was spotted laughing as soon as the final buzzer sounded — seemed bemused by the whole sad affair, and compared his team to Santa Claus:
Bynum on the last two minutes: “Oh my goodness, we’re better than Santa Claus. Gave them a gift”
“Man that was crazy. We’re better than Santa Claus, we like giving out gifts. We give out games, contracts and rings.”
Last night presented the Lakers with their best chance to make this series a truly competitive one, but they instead let victory slip through their hands, as the Thunder woke up in crunch time and scored the game’s final 9 points.
Los Angeles will be the scene of Games 3 and 4 (a brutal back-to-back this Friday and Saturday), and OKC won’t be looking for any more “gifts”. They’ll be coming to take what increasingly appears to be theirs.
