The LA Lakers and Oklahoma City Thunder are playing on the NBA schedule on Tuesday night and the matchup from Chesapeake Energy Arena comes as Los Angeles travels to OKC for the game and it will have Russell Westbrook leading the way, as Kobe Bryant and Kevin Durant will be out and that leaves the guard with all the star power as the team pushes towards the playoffs.
The Thunder come into the game after a win against the Miami Heat and they have continued to play well without Durant. The team likely is shutting down Durant for the rest of the regular season, but there is a chance he could return for the playoffs. The Thunder currently are in the eighth playoff spot in the west and they are hanging on in front of the Suns and the Pelicans.
Westbrook had his triple double taken away against the Heat with one rebound taken from his stats, but he had another impressive game with 17 assists. Enes Kanter has turned out to be a great move and he comes in after leading the team with 27 points and 12 rebounds against Miami. The Thunder next play against the San Antonio Spurs and one can only imagine how good they would be if Westbrook and Durant were healthy all season.
The team is ranked eighth in scoring this season and they are first in rebounds per game and they have been impressive while dealing with Durant being out. The Lakers come into the game after a rare win and that was against the Sixers and they will next play on the road against the Timberwolves in Minnesota. The team got 29 points and five assists from Jeremy Lin and he has had a strong finish to the season for the Lakers.
OKC comes in with 40 wins and they are second in the northwest division, while the Lakers come in with just 18 wins this season and they are in fifth in the Pacific division. The team is ranked in the top 10 in rebounds per game, but they are 18th in scoring this season. Westbrook has been on fire lately and he comes in averaging a strong 27 points and eight rebounds per game this season, while Kanter is averaging over 10 rebounds per contest.
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