Conquering the King Mountain

Naturally, before any effective adjustments were made, Noel's performance in this G5 King Mountain Battle was just as helpless.

After the game entered the Second Quarter, Alexander needed less than three minutes to score eight straight points over Noel by attacking the rim off Pick-and-Rolls, forcing the Lakers to call another timeout.

In that situation, Noel's only purpose on the floor was to help Howard get through those few minutes of rest.

Vogel had no choice. He was out of options. He couldn't exactly put Griffin or Mozgov at center.

Griffin wasn't entirely out of the question, but it would take too much out of him.

He was already spending a lot of energy on offense. If he also had to play longer and fill in at center on defense, it was hard to say whether Griffin's body would give out before the Thunder did.

After all, Griffin had a glass body, too.

As for Mozgov... best not to mention him.

When the timeout the Lakers called with 3:45 left in the Second Quarter ended, Howard returned to the floor.

Howard's presence helped the team considerably on defense, but it still wasn't enough to change the bigger picture on offense.

The ones who kept the Lakers from falling further behind in the Second Quarter were Kuzma and old Rondo.

Rondo's steady playmaking, combined with the good shooting touch of "Aunt Jenny's little lover" tonight, made them the heart of the Lakers' second unit.

Thanks to their strong performances, Los Angeles avoided letting the Thunder push the lead into double digits.

But their abilities were limited, and they couldn't change the course of the entire game.

When Chen returned to the floor with six and a half minutes left in the Second Quarter, the game's rhythm shifted again, and the Lakers