Los Angeles Lakers Hold Off Oklahoma City Thunder 99-96 in Game 3: Fan's Reaction - Yahoo! Sports

On Friday, May 18, Kobe Bryant scored 36 points to lead the Los Angeles Lakers to a 99-96 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Lakers are now down 2-1 in their Western Conference series with the Thunder.

Here are three thoughts on Game 3:

Hit your free throws

The Lakers have struggled at times this season from the line, but in a game they had to win, the team nailed 41 of 42 free throw attempts. Bryant led the charge with a perfect 18 for 18 from the line, which accounted for half of his point total. In fact, Andrew Bynum was the only player on the team to miss a free throw, though he did hit on 11 of 12 from the stripe. The Lakers were clutch from the free throw line against the Thunder, and it's a good thing they were, because it won them the game.

Steve Blake

Lakers' point guard Steve Blake and his with Kristen were subjected to death threats through their Twitter accounts after he missed a potential game-winning three-pointer in Game 2. I would have understood if he had a rough game on Friday night, but instead Blake gave the team one of his best performances of the 2012 playoffs. He was 4 of 5 shooting, including 2 for 2 from three-point range, and he grabbed eight rebounds. Blake deserves a lot of credit for keeping his mind in the game and playing a key role in the Lakers' victory. A person with less character than Blake would have packed it in.

Issues, issues

I have to give the Thunder credit for some of the problems the Lakers had in Game 3, but that doesn't excuse Los Angeles from its mistakes. The team needs more scoring out of Bynum inside. A dominant center should never be 2 of 13 shooting. Anything less than 50 percent from Bynum is unacceptable. He's too talented to consistently shoot this poorly. Metta World Peace has no business attempting eight three-pointers in a game. He's not a good enough long-range shooter to be taking shots away from Pau Gasol, Bynum, and Bryant. He should be looking to pass inside before spotting up for low percentage shots.

Finally, the Lakers are still too careless with the ball. The team committed 15 turnovers in Game 3, which on paper isn't as bad as it could be, but that's not counting the multiple occasions where Lakers players nearly lost the ball before regaining possession. These mistakes throw the offense out of sync and provide opportunities to opponents. It's probably too late in the season to solve this problem, and I think it might be what ends the Lakers' playoff run.

Derek Ciapala has been a fan of the Los Angeles Lakers since childhood. His favorite Lakers' moment is when they beat the Detroit Pistons 108-105 in Game 7 of the 1988 NBA Finals. You can follow him on Twitter @dciapala.