Pau Gasol had 25 points and 11 rebounds, Andrew Bynum added 21 points and Los Angeles vigorously rebounded from back-to-back losses with a 111-87 victory over the Thunder on Tuesday night, taking a 3-2 lead in their first-round playoff series.
Bryant had 13 points and seven assists in three quarters of work as the defending NBA champions coolly shook off the eighth-seeded Thunder's series-tying blowout win in Game 4 with a comprehensive thrashing of the postseason newcomers.
With their offense purring and their defense throttling Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, the Lakers led by 21 points at halftime and went ahead by 32 late in the third quarter of their third home victory in the series.
"This is the kind of game we can play when we're executing well on both ends of the court," said Bynum, who set a career playoff scoring high. "We need to try to close it out now, and not be satisfied with this."
Game 6 is Friday night in Oklahoma City, where the top-seeded Lakers will attempt to reach the Western Conference semifinals for the third straight year.
Durant scored 17 points and Westbrook had 15 on combined 9-for-27 shooting for Oklahoma City, which never recovered after missing its first 13 shots.
"I wish I could say why, but they kicked our butts from the beginning," Durant said. "They had some dunks early on and got the fans excited, and they just kind of cruised from there. It was tough to come back."
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