NBA game of the week

By Ben Bolch

Dec. 2, 2012 12 AM PT

LAKERS AT OKLAHOMA CITY

Time: 6:30 p.m. PST Friday.

TV: TWC SportsNet, TWC Deportes, ESPN.

The Lakers added Dwight Howard and Steve Nash. The Thunder lost James Harden. So why are the Lakers looking up, up, up at Oklahoma City in the Western Conference standings? Blame Mike Brown, the Princeton offense and an injury to Nash for relegating what was supposed to be matchup of NBA Finals contenders into a potentially lopsided affair. Then again, the Lakers are eager for a marquee road victory, particularly after going 0-4 last season at Chesapeake Energy Arena. They’ll have to endure an earsplitting environment and a team that hasn’t experienced any drop-off since Kevin Martin replaced Harden as the Thunder’s sixth man.

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Ben Bolch

Ben Bolch has been a Los Angeles Times staff writer since 1999. He is serving his second stint as the UCLA beat writer, which seems fitting since he has covered almost every sports beat except hockey and horse racing. Bolch is also the author of the recently released book “100 Things UCLA Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die.” He previously covered UCLA basketball from 2010-11 before going on to cover the NBA and the Clippers for five years. He happily traded in gobs of hotel points and airline miles to return to cover UCLA basketball and football in the summer of 2016. Bolch was once selected by NBA TV’s “The Starters” as the “Worst of the Week” after questioning their celebrity journalism-style questions at an NBA All-Star game and considers it one of his finer moments.

NBA game of the week

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