Kevin Durant has hit two game-winning shots versus the Lakers – a fact not lost on Mike Brown.

"Kevin Durant has a quality like a (Michael) Jordan, like a Kobe," Brown said Sunday. "He's going to beat you by putting that ball in the bucket. I don't care if you got one guy on him, two guys on him or three guys on him, he's still going to have a chance to get a shot off.

"We can't have any more one-possession games against these guys. We got to at least be up by two possessions if there's six or seven seconds left on the clock. We could easily be up 3-1 if he doesn't hit two difficult shots."

Durant has three game-winners in the Thunder's eight playoff games thus far.

"From afar you see … he's as cold and steeled as Kobe (Bryant) is when it comes to pressure and closing games," Brown said. "A guy can be talented and have all these tools, but sometimes it can go out the window when it comes to making a big shot. That stuff doesn't go out the window when it comes to Kevin Durant. He wants that ball."

Portland has not asked for permission to speak to Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak about their front office vacancy, team spokesman John Black said before Game 4 on Saturday night.

Kupchak, who has served as a Lakers executive for 25 years, has a multi-season contract with the team.

Kobe Bryant criticized Pau Gasol for throwing away a pass with 33.9 seconds remaining in the Lakers’ 103-100 loss to Oklahoma City on Saturday.

Kevin Durant hit a three-point shot on the next possession to give the Thunder the lead for good.

"Just a bad read on Pau's part," Bryant said. "He's looking to swing the ball too much. He's got to take his shot.

"Pau's got to be more assertive. He's the guy they're leaving [open]. When he's catching the ball, he's looking to pass. He's got to be aggressive. He's got to shoot the ball or drive the ball to the basket. He will be next game."

Gasol accepted blame for the turnover, but contended that his mistake wasn’t the sole reason the Lakers lost Game 4.

"It's one play, one mistake," Gasol said. "There were a lot of mistakes in that fourth quarter, a lot of mistakes throughout the game. So, obviously, if I could have gone back, maybe I could have shot it and I would have. It's one play, obviously, at a critical time, but I don't feel like we lost the game because of one turnover."

Kobe Bryant went 18-for-18 from the free throw line in the Lakers' gritty Game 3 win over Oklahoma City.

“I don’t give a [expletive] what you say,” Bryant told Yahoo! Sports late Friday. “If I go out there and miss game winners, and people say, 'Kobe choked, or Kobe is seven for whatever in pressure situations.' Well, [expletive] you.

“Because I don’t play for your [expletive] approval. I play for my own love and enjoyment of the game. And to win. That’s what I play for. Most of the time, when guys feel the pressure, they’re worried about what people might say about them. I don’t have that fear, and it enables me to forget bad plays and to take shots and play my game."

Steve Blake said he received hate messages on Twitter following the Lakers’ loss to Oklahoma City on Wednesday.

Blake missed a potential game-winning three-point attempt with 5 seconds remaining in Game 2.

"It's pretty disappointing that there are a lot of hateful people out there, but you move on," Blake said. "I just don't appreciate it when it's toward my family. You can come at me all you want but when you say things about my wife and my kids, that makes me upset."

Blake’s wife, Kristen, posted some of the messages to her Twitter account.

"I hope your family gets murdered," read one tweet that Kristen posted.

Derek Fisher, the former Lakers guard who knows the ins and outs of Kobe Bryant’s game like few others, sees some of Bryant in three-time scoring champ Kevin Durant.

"There are similarities in terms of that internal fire," Fisher said. "Kevin is not as demonstrative [as Kobe] in terms of his actions, but on the inside, he wants to be one of the greats."

Durant’s practice habits remind Fisher of Bryant.

"I watched Kobe for years work to become one of the greatest of all-time," Fisher said. "I think Kevin has the same love and passion for playing basketball. The process is happening, for sure. You can see he is understanding more of what it takes to be the leader of the team. Not just statistically; but the little things, the defense, the rebounding, being in the right position. Knowing when to control the game, when to get his teammates involved. But I think he is making a commitment on the defensive end. He wants to get better. He wants to improve. He is on his way."

Kobe Bryant remains confident despite suffering a 29-point loss in Game 1 of the Lakers’ Western Conference semifinals series against Oklahoma City.

"We're a team that doesn't get down when we get blown out. We've been blown out a bunch of times this season, blown out last series a couple times," Bryant said.

"We're used to dealing with that."

Bryant expects the Lakers to make the proper adjustments in Game 2.

"Everything's fixable. It's just about making adjustments. That's really what the postseason is," said Bryant, a five-time NBA champ.

"They came out, took us out back and whooped us. It's on us to make adjustments, to make changes and come back with a better effort — and we will."

Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant combined to shoot 58 percent from the floor in Game 1.

"The one thing we have to do, we have to make sure that we give multiple efforts when we're defending the pick-and-roll," coach Mike Brown said. "They do a great job of sprinting out to the ball screen and creating separation. … When they're sprinting out, we've really got to get on our high horse, we've got to run with them and we've got to make sure that we affect the ball at the point of the screen as opposed for waiting for the ball to come to us."

Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum sat on the Lakers bench to discuss strategy after the final buzzer sounded to announce their 119-90 Game 1 loss to the Thunder.

“We really just talked about what we're going to do offensively as far as trying to get most of us more involved in the high-low (game) because we have a big advantage there and we've got to get to it,” Bynum told TNT.

Oklahoma City outscored the Lakers 48-44 in points in the paint.

Andrew Bynum collected a playoff career-high 18 rebounds and blocked six shots in the Lakers’ Game 7 win over the Nuggets.

After the win, Bynum vowed to stay focused on defense first, seeing at least four blocks each game from him as a key to advancing further in the playoffs.

“We’ll win this championship,” Bynum said, “if we commit to defense.”

Metta World Peace has no interest in extending a hand to James Harden when the Lakers open their Western Conference semifinals series against the Thunder.

"I don't shake substitutes' hands," World Peace said after the Lakers' 96-87 Game 7 victory over the Nuggets on Saturday. "My concern is executing the coaches' game plan and that's what my concern is."

World Peace said the entire Thunder team has a habit of forgoing the usual pregrame handshake or fist pound.

"I shake everybody's hand before the game, but Oklahoma City, they don't shake hands," World Peace said. "Only some of them, but I don't think they really shake hands before the game.Kendrick Perkins and now (Russell) Westbrookdon't shake hands either. (Russell) used to shake hands, but now he don't shake hands anymore."