Baxter Holmes, ESPN Senior Writer 9y

Thunder 104, Lakers 103: Kobe misses

LOS ANGELES -- Even though the Oklahoma City Thunder were without Kevin Durant, they still had enough to squeak by the Los Angeles Lakers on the second night of a back-to-back road set. And by "enough," we're largely talking about Russell Westbrook.

Play of the game: It was a back-and-forth affair that came down to the final play, and the Lakers had the ball with 6.3 seconds left in the fourth quarter, trailing by one. They called timeout, and everyone in the building knew who was going to take the final shot. Kobe Bryant's 17-foot jumper just before the buzzer sounded fell short, dropping the Lakers to 8-18. Bryant finished with 9 points, 8 assists and 8 rebounds, but he shot just 3 of 15 from the field.

Player of the game: Westbrook carried the Thunder without Durant, who missed the game after spraining his right ankle the night before against the Golden State Warriors. Westbrook finished with 31 points on 9-of-22 shooting, hitting all 13 of his attempts from the free throw line. He also added 10 assists and 5 rebounds.

Reserve of the game: Reggie Jackson scored 25 off the bench for the Thunder, hitting 9 of 15 from the field.

Hullabaloo of the night: Stop me if you've heard this one before -- Oklahoma City center Steven Adams got under an opposing player's skin and said opposing player retaliated. The latest player to join an ever-growing list of opponents irked by Adams' aggressive style is Lakers guard Nick Young. Young was agitated by Adams and threw a forearm into Adams' throat with 11:23 left in the fourth quarter. After a review, Young was tagged with a Flagrant-2 foul and ejected. He finished with 10 points on 4-of-8 shooting in 15 minutes.

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