Oklahoma City star Kevin Durant looks dejected after his team was eliminated in Game 5 of the 2011 Western Conference finals by the Mavericks. (GETTY IMAGES)

For the first time in his young NBA career, Kevin Durant is sick to his stomach. Never before has the 22-year-old superstar been subjected to this kind of cruel fate.

Last season, Durant and the young and exciting Oklahoma City Thunder squad became an instant hit when they stretched the defending world champion L.A. Lakers to six games in the first round of the playoffs. With higher expectations this season, Durant and the Thunder went two steps further by reaching the 2011 Western Conference finals.

But this is where the fairytale ends, with the Dallas Mavericks serving as reality checkers. The Mavs eliminated the Thunder with a 100-96 victory in Game 5 in Dallas, taking the series 4-1 and advancing to the NBA Finals. OKC was game and resilient, but it was obvious the stinging loss from the previous game still lingered. And the way they executed (or how they didn’t execute) down the stretch in Game 5 reminded them of their epic meltdown in Game 4.

The overtime loss in Game 4 in Oklahoma City left a huge scar on Durant, something he’ll probably carry around all offseason until he gets another opportunity to play in the conference finals.

Even though the Thunder, as a team, blew a 15-point lead with five minutes to play in the fourth quarter of Game 4, Durant felt responsible because he knows the fate of the franchise begins and ends with him.

“I feel upset because I let [the Oklahoma City fans] down. Let the city down,” Durant said after getting outscored by Dallas, 28-6, in the final five minutes of regulation and in overtime that deflated not only the Thunder but their loyal supporters who thought they had locked up the series at 2 midway through the fourth quarter.

When someone brought up the “inexperience” issue during Durant’s postgame news conference, Durant scoffed at that notion and delivered a terse reply. “This is basketball, man. Our youth had nothing to do with what we do on the floor. We showed we can play at this level.”

Durant added, “I was trying to play with so much force, played so hard. Early on they were playing straight up defense. Later on, I see three, four guys around me. Late in the game, that was my time. But a few of those times the lane was too clogged up and I didn’t want to force a shot, so I passed the ball to my teammates. I believe in my teammates. I have trust in them.”

The end of regulation came down to Durant, who had the ball near midcourt with under 10 seconds left on the clock. Normally, he would calmly dribble to his left and pull up for his signature jump shot. But Shawn Marion blocked his path, and Jason Kidd was also playing free safety in case Marion gets beat. So Durant really had nowhere to go.

“I didn’t have anything else to do,” said the normally unflappable Durant. “I saw three Mavericks in front of me, three seconds on the clock, I didn’t know what else to do. I tried to get a shot, but I didn’t want run into their defense. I didn’t know what else to do. They played good D.”

Sorry, KD. When you say “I didn’t know what else to do” is basically admitting that your inexperience played a part in your indecision. But that happens to all young stars. Durant will learn from this and be a better player because he failed. Based on how he attacks each offseason and always strives to be better each year, I predict KD won’t fail too many times when he’s placed in the same predicament in the future.

Joel Huerto is the publisher and editor of OneManFastBreak.net. Follow him on Twitter at: www.twitter.com/onemanfastbreak.

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Kobe Bryant made sure there wasn’t going to be a Game 7 as he made three clutch shots down the stretch to lead the L.A. Lakers to a 111-103 victory over the Phoenix Suns and clinch the 2010 Western Conference championship.

L.A. will face the Boston Celtics in the NBA Finals, a matchup of two teams with a combined 32 NBA championship banners. Game 1 of The Finals begin Thursday night in Los Angeles.

Against the Suns in Game 6, the Lakers built a 12-point lead at halftime and led throughout the second half. But backup point guard Goran Dragic led a furious fourth-quarter rally by the Suns in which the home team sliced an 18-point deficit to three points with under three minutes remaining. Dragic ignited the surge when he scored six points in nine seconds, two coming on free throws after Sasha Vujacic was called for a Flagrant 1 foul when he hit Dragic in the chin as the two Slovenians got tangled up in the backcourt.

Kobe Bryant and Derek Fisher make their third consecutive trip the NBA Finals, their first trip with Ron Artest as a teammate. (NBAE/GETTY IMAGES)

But when the game got close, the Lakers turned to the best closer in the game – Bryant.

After the Suns cut the lead to 99-96 with 2:19 left, Bryant got the ball on the wing and buried a shot over Grant Hill and Channing Frye to give the Lakers a five-point lead. Then, with 35.2 remaining, Bryant put the game away when he drove past the Suns bench, rose up over Hill and swished a fadeaway shot from about 22 feet to make it 107-100.

“Just had to keep attacking, trying to stay aggressive,” said Kobe Bryant, who scored a game-high 37 points – his ninth 30-point game in his last 10 playoff games.

“They had help coming from the weakside, with traps and things like that, and made it difficult for me to get to the basket. So, I just had to create a little bit of space and raise up,” Bryant said. “I had a good look, it looks like a tougher shot than it actually is. I got a good look, got my legs underneath me and was able to knock it down.”

Suns coach Alvin Gentry got a great view of Bryant’s fall-away shot and thought Hill played it about as well as any player could defend it. Unfortunately, Bryant was just better than any defense the Suns threw at him.

“After I had knocked down a shot, I just heard him mutter something like ‘That’s BS!’ Something to that effect. It just made me smile. I just padded them on the butt,” Bryant said of his sideline encounter with Gentry.

“I mean, what can you say about Kobe?” Gentry asked. “There’s an intense game going on and you almost have to laugh at what he does. I thought we played great defense on him and he just made tough shot, after tough shot.”

Bryant’s got some help offensively from Ron Artest, who carried over his game-winning play from Game 5 to a very solid 10-for-16 shooting night and 25 points in Game 6.

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Ron Artest is surrounded by his teammates after hitting the game-winning shot in Game 5. (NBAE/GETTY IMAGES)

Ron Artest waited all season to make his mark as a L.A. Laker and his moment finally came Thursday night.

After the Phoenix Suns rallied from an 18-point deficit and tied the score at 101 with 3.5 seconds left on Jason Richardson’s bank shot from the behind the 3-point line, the Lakers drew up a play for Kobe Bryant to win the game but his shot from near the sideline fell way short. Fortunately for the Lakers, Artest never gave up on the play, grabbing the loose ball and beating the clock with a short, off-balance bank shot that gave the Lakers a 103-101 victory in Game 5 at Staples Center.

“I thought Kobe got fouled on his shot, so I figured it was going to be short,” Artest said of the final play. “I just thought I’d throw my weight a little bit, and let my weight work for me.”

The Lakers now lead the 2010 Western Conference finals, 3-2, with a chance to close out the series in Game 6 in Phoenix.

“It’s amazing you go through all this stuff, all the preparation, and it comes down to fundamental things,” said Bryant. “They knock down a 3-pointer because we didn’t box out, and they wound up losing a game because they didn’t box out. Little things like that are the difference between winning big playoff games and losing them.”

Bryant took the inbounds pass from Lamar Odom, but when he turned to shoot Steve Nash and Grant Hill converged on him and didn’t allow him to get a clean look at the basket.

“I felt I had a great look, but Grant Hill stuck his hand in there at the last second and forced me to double pump,” Bryant said. “Other than that I was gonna shoot over Steve. Once I release the ball I saw Ron sneaking in, and I was just hoping he got it off in time.”

It was easily Artest’s biggest play as a member of the Los Angeles Lakers and it almost didn’t happen because Phil Jackson contemplated about taking him out of the game for taking an ill-advised 3-pointer with under a minute left in the fourth quarter and Lakers ahead by three. “I’ll have a substitute to get you next time, that’s what I said,” Jackson joked. “I don’t know why I left him in the game. I questioned it myself when I put him out there. But there he was made the key play.”

Artest was 1-for-9 from the field prior to the last play, but found redemption by being at the right place at the right time.

“It was a great moment,” said Lakers guard Derek Fisher, who has had his share of game-winning shots during his career. “We’re very happy for Ron because Ron has been asked to sacrifice a lot with his game to really try to fit in on what we do things. He has sacrificed a lot to get to where we’re trying to go. And that’s why we were so happy for him.”

The Lakers led for much of the game but had to withstand a furious Suns fourth-quarter rally led by Nash, who scored 29 points.

“We just didn’t quite finish the play,” said Suns coach Alvin Gentry. “They made a good play. You gotta give Ron Artest credit. He ran down the ball and put it in the basket.”

Gentry continued: “The only thing negative is the way we approached the game a little bit. We weren’t quite as aggressive and they got into us defensively and we struggled a little bit getting into our offense. But on the defensive side of the ball we did great. We’ve now gotten them down from 58 percent to 41 percent. They keep talking about the zone, and our zone has been fine.”

Artest’s last-second shot was the second game-winning putback for the Lakers in the 2010 playoffs. Pau Gasol made a similar play in the first round when he followed up Bryant’s miss to win Game 6 in Oklahoma City.

“It was a crazy game. It had a bit of everything,” Nash said. “We found a way to tie it up and we lost on a last-second putback. Just when you thought everything was OK, and we’re going into overtime, we lose. But that’s life. We take a lot of positives from tonight and we gotta home and play as well as we did in games 3 and 4.

“Everything’s OK. We came back obviously with a great effort,” added Nash. “Maybe we deserved this game, maybe we didn’t. We lost and they held homecourt. We’ll go back home and we’ll do the same, and we’ll come back here for Game 7.”

Joel Huerto is the editor and publisher of OneManFastBreak.net, an online journal for basketball fans around the world and a proud partner of SportsFanLive.com. To read more about the NBA playoffs, visit OneManFastBreak.net.

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The Phoenix Suns’ zone defense has altered the complexion of the Western Conference finals.

After two convincing victories in Game 1 and Game 2, the Lakers appeared to be headed for sweep until the Suns, out of pure desperation, went exclusively to a zone defense that not only slowed up the Lakers’ offensive attack but it has energized the Suns’ offense. Despite 38 points from Kobe Bryant, the Suns got enough stops on defense and a huge lift from their reserves to score a 115-106 win in Game 4.

“The only thing that we tried to do is that we look at the tape and we try to look at it as if we were the Lakers, and we said, ‘OK, where would you attack us?’ ” said Suns coach Alvin Gentry, whose team has held the Lakers under 50% from the field on consecutive games after L.A. shot 56% in two games in L.A.

The Suns bench also played a big role in Game 4. They not only outscored the Lakers bench, 54-20, but they also brought a lot of energy on the floor and helped Phoenix outrebound the Lakers, 51-36.

Suns reserve forward Jared Dudley gets the Phoenix fans excited after knocking down a 3-pointer in the fourth quarter. The Suns bench outscored the Lakers bench, 54-20, in Game 4. (NBAE/GETTY IMAGES)

“We saw some areas where we were really vulnerable so we talked to our guys about being well aware of that. One of them was the high screen-and-roll with Kobe,” Gentry explained. “We thought that we would have to get up and at least make him drive it and not just come off and rise up and shoot the ball. We also thought that they would try to pound the ball a lot more, so we would have to be inside and then close out on shooters and I thought we did a good job with that.”

Gentry said the other day the Suns will continue to play their “girly zone” for as long as it keeps the bigger and taller Lakers from dominating inside. “The whole key is, although it’s a zone, we try to match up,” Gentry said. “Initially, everyone has to have a man and then from there we try to pass guys off. Early on they were making jump shots, and I think we’ll have to live with the jump shot.”

Lakers coach Phil Jackson dismissed the notion that the Suns won Game 4 because of the zone defense, noting that the Lakers shot 49% from the field. Instead, he highlighted the fact the Lakers were outshot from the free throw line again.

“We shot 49 percent didn’t we? That’s pretty good. Nothing wrong with that. I won’t say we struggled against the zone. I think we’re struggling at the defensive end,” Jackson explained. “We outscored them from the field in both games, shot better than they did, we did a lot of things very good but still wasn’t enough to win the game. They beat us at the foul line both nights and that’s the difference in the margin of the game. We have to do a better job in that activity.”

Jackson pointed out the discrepancy in the number of foul shots in the two games in Phoenix. In Game 4, the Suns were 22-for-32 from the free throw line while the Lakers shot 7-for-13. In Game 3, the Suns went to the line 42 times and converted 37 of them, while the Lakers got just 20 attempts.

“Every time we came near them they fell down and went to the line,” Jackson joked.

Bryant carried the Lakers offense for much of the second half, including a huge scoring binge in the third quarter. But in the fourth quarter, Bryant was silent and that’s when the Suns bench took over as Channing Frye, Jared Dudley and Leandro Barbosa helped build a nine-point lead on consecutive 3-point shots.

“Our defense could’ve been much better,” Bryant said. “Coming up here, we lost the sense of urgency defensively. I think our concentration was focused on how to attack the zone and it kind of flipped our attention to detail defensively. Our focus was on the other side of the floor, which doesn’t win championships.”

Bryant only had four shot attempts in the fourth quarter, but he says it wasn’t because of the Suns defense. “We didn’t lose the game because of that, we lost the game because our defense sucked.”

Though Jackson and Bryant made some valid points, the simple fact that they seem very agitated whenever the zone defense questions keep popping up gives reason to believe that the Lakers are frustrated with the way the zone has disrupted their flow and rhythm on offense. The Lakers’ triangle offense is an extension of their defense, and when the Lakers are rolling on offense they seem to play better defensively.

The Lakers are attacking the Suns’ zone defense from the wing, which goes away from the weakness of the zone. There were times when 7-footer Pau Gasol (who was held to 15 points) was out on the wing moving the ball, which takes him out of the low block where he is most effective. The attack must start with one player on the pinch post – either Bryant, Ron Artest or Lamar Odom – initiating the attack from the top of the foul line and down. By putting someone in the middle of the zone, this collapses the defense and opens up the baseline as well as the corner.

Whenever Bryant or Gasol got into the middle of the zone, the Lakers got easy buckets. They did this for much of the third quarter when they made their run but, for whatever reason, got away from it in the fourth quarter and began settling for 3-point shots. The Lakers are 18-for-60 from behind the arc in the last two games.

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Los Angeles Lakers coach Phil Jackson revealed on Sunday night that he is considering sitting center Andrew Bynum for Game 4 to rest his ailing right knee.

The Lakers have a 2-1 edge in the Western Conference finals against the Phoenix Suns and Game 5 is on Thursday in Los Angeles so that would give Bynum three full days of not putting any weight on his right knee, which has a torn meniscus.

Bynum told Scott Howard-Cooper of NBA.com that he prefers to play because he’s not doing more damage to the knee. But Jackson is more concerned about how Bynum’s injury is impacting the Lakers, especially on the defensive end.

“I’ll talk to him and see what his suggestion is and how he feels about it, ” Jackson said of Bynum, who had two points, two rebounds and four personal fouls in a little over seven minutes in Game 3, won by the Suns 118-109.

“I think that he was ineffective tonight. There’s some things that got by him. He had one nice move in the post. Defensively, I thought he was a little bit late.”

Amare Stoudemire punished the Lakers defense with a series-high 42 points, aided by 14 free throws on 18 attempts. But Stoudemire scoring 40 points is not that surprising. What was surprising was that Robin Lopez made eight of 10 shots from the field and scored 20 points. If Bynum were healthy, Lopez wouldn’t have 20 points. Heck, he may not even have more than six.

Bynum doesn’t need to score to have an impact in the game. They have Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol for that. What Bynum brings to the floor is size and length on defense, which discourage players, such as Stoudemire, from driving to the basket. With Bynum and Gasol in the backline, the Lakers possess two 7-footers with extremely long wingspans and perimeter defenders such as Ron Artest can apply more pressure on the opposition and not worry about getting beat to the basket.

“Obviously, he’s been a key player all year. He can bring a lot to the table defensively and offensively,” Gasol said of his teammate. “He’s a big presence for us. We don’t know how much that knee is a factor. Of course, I would like for him to play more, and provide more, and help us.”

The Lakers are good enough to advance past the Suns without Bynum, but they will need him in the NBA Finals. And that’s the big picture Jackson and the Lakers are looking at.

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Suns center Amare Stoudemire is sandwiched by 7-footers Pau Gasol (left) and Andrew Bynum. (NBAE/GETTY IMAGES)

When you pick on the biggest bully on the block, you better be prepared to back up your talk.

Phoenix Suns center Amare Stoudemire first picked on Lakers forward Lamar Odom, dismissing his impact in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals saying that Odom got “lucky” despite scoring 19 points and grabbing 19 rebounds. Then Stoudemire turned his attention to Lakers centers Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol, saying he used to dominate Gasol when the 7-foot Spaniard played for the Memphis Grizzlies.

“It was total domination,” Stoudemire told The Arizona Republic of his 2005 first-round playoff matchup with Gasol. “But now he has a little brother (Bynum) with him so now he’s a little more confident because he’s got someone to help him in the post.”

Though Odom, Bynum and Gasol didn’t respond publicly to Stoudemire’s statements, they did their talking on the court as they took turns in punishing Stoudemire in the low post, combining for 59 points and 27 rebounds in the Lakers’ 124-112 destruction of the Suns in Game 2.

“Well, what can you say. We’re just having a hard time slowing them down,” said Suns coach Alvin Gentry, whose team is averaging 109 points and shooting almost 50% from the field in the series but still find themselves down 0-2.

“We played well offensively, but every time we make an adjustment to slow them down they go somewhere else. You do a great job on Kobe [Bryant], which I thought we did, they to go to Pau. We go double team Pau and there’s Lamar; we get it out of Lamar’s hands and Jordan Farmar makes shots. They are the reason they’re the world champs.”

After the Suns tied the game at 90 after three quarters, the Lakers went back to their low post attack, which meant a whole lot of Gasol and that’s when the game turned into a rout.

Gasol scored 14 of his game-high 29 points in the fourth quarter and made 11 of 19 shots for the game.

He took advantage of Stoudemire’s inattentiveness on defense. On one play, Stoudemire totally misplayed a pick-and-roll situation and allowed Gasol to slip in for an easy layup. On another play, Stoudemire completely lost Gasol in a crowd and Bryant was able to spot him for another uncontested layup under the basket. And when he’s not embarrassing Stoudemire on pick-and-rolls, Gasol punished him on simple isolations on the low block.

“We had to try to play him straight up, and when we played him straight up Pau had some success,” Gentry said. “The one time we tried to double he turned it over, the next time we doubled he found the open guy and the guy makes a three. You really do have to pick your poison.”

Gentry added: “We just have to take a look at the tape tonight, and maybe we’ll decide we let Kobe score 80 and try to guard the other guys.”

Bryant, who lit up the Suns for 40 points in Game 1, scored just 21 points but had a team-high 13 assists.

The Lakers are making nearly 58% of their shots from the field and averaging 126 points through the first two games in the series. They enjoyed another big advantage in points in the paint (54-46) and, thanks to another stellar game by Odom (17 points, 11 rebounds) and timely contribution from Farmar (11 points), the Lakers bench outplayed the Suns bench for a second time.

Though his team initially didn’t target Stoudemire on the low block, Lakers coach Phil Jackson said it became a top priority once the Suns’ All-Star center got into foul trouble.

“He’s the initiator of their screen-and-roll offense because of what he can do off his roll activity,” Jackson explained. “We took the ball down in the low post because he had five fouls and we knew it would tough for him to play defense at that time.”

This series can’t end soon enough for Stoudemire, who finished Game 2 with 18 points and six rebounds. The Lakers are just too big, too strong and too talented for the Suns, who will need a lot of luck just to win a game in this series.

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Kobe Bryant collected the 11th 40-point game of his playoff career in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals against the Suns. (NBAE/GETTY IMAGES)

Despite all the things he has achieved in his soon-to-be Hall-of-Fame basketball career, Kobe Bryant still finds little things to motivate him. It’s what makes him the best player in the Association. It’s the reason why he has four NBA championship rings. It’s the kind of closer mentality that separates him from his peers. Actually, take that back. Kobe Bryant is without peer.

Bryant loves to take on challenges. Kevin Durant pushed him in the first round, and Bryant pushed him out of the playoffs. Utah fans made fun of his L.A. Times photo shoot, and Bryant responded by sending the Jazz home after four games. Now, in the Western Conference finals, Bryant has taken on the challenge posed by the Phoenix Suns and forward Grant Hill.

Hill got a five-page scouting report on Bryant courtesy of his Duke buddy Shane Battier. Well, after Bryant lit up Hill and Suns for 40 points to lead the L.A. Lakers to a convincing 128-107 victory in Game 1, Battier may need to send five more pages to help out his fellow Blue Devil.

Since LeBron James accepted his second consecutive NBA regular season MVP award, Bryant has scored 31, 30, 35, 32 and 40 points and the Lakers have won five in a row. Coincidence? Hardly.

Bryant believes he is still the top dog in the league, and not receiving a single first-place MVP vote burns him to the core. (Are you kidding me, media members? Zero first-place votes for the reigning NBA Finals MVP. Unbelievable!). Now, Kobe is going to take it out on the Suns or whichever team comes out of the East.

“Kobe carried a lot of the offense tonight. I don’t know about [taking it personally], but I would say he shouldered the game,” Lakers coach Phil Jackson said of Bryant’s 13-for-23 shooting in Game 1, a game in which the Lakers shot 58% from the field and outscored Phoenix 56-36 in the paint.

“The way he got those points, when he’s in that zone like is tonight there is not a whole lot you can do about it,” Suns coach Alvin Gentry said of Bryant, who scored 21 points in the third quarter and pushed the Lakers to a 14-point lead almost on his own.

“Every time [Kobe] plays he takes it personally,” Gentry added. “That’s his motivation. He understand how important this first game is and I just thought he played at a real, real high level. Since he walked into the league, I’ve never underestimated him. You knew at some stage that he would try to take the game over. That’s what he does. He’s a great player. He is focused on one area and that’s try to win a championship.”

When Kobe was asked if he takes things personally whenever he takes the court, he replied (with a smile): “It’s never personal with me.”

“He’s the best scorer in the league,” Lakers forward Lamar Odom said of Bryant, his teammate of six seasons. “Fadeaways, of course he gets out on the break, playing with his back to the basket, inside, outside, shoots the ball with his left hand when his right hand is broke. Time off was exactly what he needed.”

Given a week off to prepare for the conference finals, Bryant feels healthy and now has a bounce in his step.

“I’ve done a lot of work during the season,” Bryant said. “You see me before games, working on my shooting and just working on different things. Now I feel like I have two legs to play with. I have better balance on my shot, so shots aren’t going short anymore they’re going in. It’s a combination of those two things.”

Though he won’t admit it publicly, Bryant felt completely disrespected with the MVP voting. It was bad enough that his chief rival for the top spot was a runaway winner, but it was compounded by the fact that three media members left him off the All-NBA first team and Durant finished ahead of him.

LeBron may have a case for No. 1, but in no way shape or form that Durant has surpassed Bryant. It’s not even close. Durant led the league in scoring because he was on a team that needed scoring. Bryant could have averaged 30 points during the season if he wanted to, but he’s playing for an NBA title not a scoring title.

And here’s a question for the media who voted for MVP: “How many players had six game-winning shots during the season?”

Not LeBron. Not Durant. Not Dwyane Wade. It’s the guy who is STILL playing in the playoffs and the guy who is about to win his fifth NBA championship ring.

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