Brown, playing with heavy tape over a sprained right thumb on his shooting hand since blocking a shot by Indiana's Dahntay Jones in early March, decided to go au naturel for Game 6, risking further aggravation of the thumb by not wearing any tape for the chance of having a better feel for the ball.
The decision paid off.
Brown scored 11 points on four-for-five shooting, including two for two on 3-pointers off the bench to help the Lakers' reserve unit outscore the Thunder's secondary rotation 30-16 on Friday after Oklahoma City owned the bench scoring battle 133-114 through the first five games of the series.
"I've been using the wrap, trying to protect it for too long," Brown said. "I felt that I didn't have good control of the game when I was out there playing with my thumb wrapped up so I just took it off. I talked to [Gary] Vitti. Yesterday before practice I shot with it off and then in practice I wrapped just real lightly. Today, in shootaround, I didn't shoot with it on and I wanted to try and see what it felt like out there during the game."
ESPNLosAngeles.com For more about this event and coverage of the complete Los Angeles sports scene, visit ESPNLosAngeles.com. »
Brown, who averaged 8.1 points on 42.7 percent shooting during the regular season, was averaging just 5.2 points on 33.3 percent shooting for the series before Friday, including a particularly egregious four-for-16 total in his last three games.
Lakers coach Phil Jackson had faith in the almost all-bench lineup he used to start the second quarter in Game 5, going with the same reserve group of Brown, Lamar Odom, Jordan Farmar and Luke Walton along with starter Andrew Bynum to start the second and fourth quarters of Game 6.
Odom finished with nine points, seven rebounds and three blocked shots, including a crucial block on Oklahoma City's Nick Collison with 1:48 left in the fourth quarter and the Lakers down by one.
Walton, who averaged only 0.4 points in the first five games of the series, scored five points in Game 6, all in the fourth quarter. Jordan Farmar had three points and four assists and Josh Powell played three minutes at the end of the first half and contributed two points at the foul line.
"It was time for us to come out and play basketball," Brown said. "People always give us grief, all the time and we definitely hear it. Today, we came out and we did what we had to do."
Brown and the bench was also valuable because Kobe Bryant picked up his fourth foul and had to leave the game with 2:46 left in the third quarter and the Lakers up by six. When Bryant returned with 6:21 left in the fourth, the Lakers were still up by four, with the bench able to preserve the Lakers' lead.
"They did a great job," Pau Gasol said. "Shannon hit big shots, Luke also, but the rest of the guys made big plays. They kept us in the ballgame when they were out there. They had a big contribution for us tonight and that's why we won the ballgame also at the end."
0 comments:
Post a Comment