Thunder fall short to the Lakers 95-92.

Durant scores 32; Kobe 39 as series shifts to OKC.

LOS ANGELES, CA--So often, important games are decided by the smallest of margins.

On Sunday afternoon the Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder by eight points 87-79 with OKC's Russell Westbrook as the surprise player of the game.  Tonight, the Lakers lost by only three and take a 2-0 series lead to Oklahoma City on Thursday night, defeating the Thunder 95-92.

Kevin Durant shot  12 for 26 with 8 rebounds to lead the Thunder with Russell Westbrook scoring 19 points on a 5 for 10 shooting effort with six rebounds.  Westbrook was an even 8 for 8 in three pointers on the night.  In the end it was the stellar play of NBA superstar Kobe Bryant who carried the Lakers to the win, shooting 12-28 from the floor and sinking an inpressive 13 free throws on 15 visits to the line.  Pau Gasol had 25 points and 12 boards and Andrew Bynum scored 6 points and had 10 rebounds to round out the Lakers scoresheet.

The scene now shifts to Oklahoma City as the Sooner State hosts it's first ever NBA Playoff game at 8:30pm on Thursday night in the Ford Center.  The game will be televised nationally on TNT, (cable-29 in Tulsa) and Fox Sports Oklahoma (cable 27).

Photo by Kevin Pyle.