The Lakeshow Review

The Lakers travelled to Oklahoma City to take on the defending champion Thunder in the third game of the team’s five-game road trip. Instead of putting forth a performance that would inspire confidence moving forward, LA proceeded to lay an egg. Or perhaps OKC was just that much better, as they thoroughly beat the Lakers 121-92. The Lakers were outplayed at every facet, as OKC led wire-to-wire for 48 minutes and clearly looked like a team that is a full gear above everyone else, including the Lakers. LA will now look to rebound and finish the road trip on a high note, but for now it appears as though the team lacks the horses to hang with the defending champs.

The Thunder started the first quarter in dominant fashion, as LAs sloppy execution led to an array of early turnovers which OKC took full advantage of. In fact, LA turned the ball over 20 times, to the Thunder’s 11. It’s virtually impossible to compete with the Thunder while playing this way, because they diligently take care of the basketball. And their swarming defense will constantly turn opponents over, giving them an edge with more offensive possession, where they are extremely effective operating within the half-court. The Lakers only managed 18 first half points, as the Thunder’s defense stiffled their half-court offense, forcing them to initiate far off the three-point line. OKC also opted to blitz Luka Dončić (who only managed 19 points on 7-20 shooting) on ball screens early on, to which the Lakers had very little counters. This is where they need to find a way to get Austin Reaves going offensively in order to ease the scoring burden on Luka, similar to Kyrie Irving’s role on the 2024 Mavericks. Unfortunately AR had a rough night too, scoring just 13 pints on 4-12 shooting. LA trailed 30-18 after 12 minutes, and it looked as though it was going to be one of those nights.

OKCs defense kept swarming in the second quarter. They did a great job of jamming passing lanes and creating havoc on LAs high pick-and-roll actions. The turnovers continued to flow for the Lakers, as OKC grew their by a soul-crushing 32 points, as they led 70-38 after the break. The Lakers failed to get much of their trademark offensive staples off the ground, as they couldn’t establish their high pick-and-roll and generally failed to get to their spots offensively. Much of this of course thanks in large to OKCs elite defense. But the Lakers’ effort level was not there in this game, which is disappointing seeing as though it felt like a repeat of the Atlanta game. Not to mention, the Lakers beat OKC late last season after the Luka trade (and probably should have beat them twice). So seeing this level of disengagement from the the team was disheartening, or perhaps the Thunder simply beat them into submission, which is also possible since they are a great team.

In any case, the Thunder kept rolling in the second half and did not let up. Midway through the fourth and down by about 30, Lakers Coach JJ Redick pulled the starters, officially making it extended garbage time. The Thunder were well on control of the game by this point and would go on to win by 29 points, in dominating fashion. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander proved yet again why he was both league and finals MVP last season, pouring in 30 points, five rebounds and nine assists, all while controlling the offensive pace for OKC. He clearly got the better of Luka last night, who played his worst game of the season thus far. OKC were clearly the better team, outshooting LA 50% to 40% from the floor. They also distributed the ball to much greater effect, tallying 28 team-assists to LAs 19. The Lakers’ ball movement was miffed all night, as they failed to create momentary advantages and get OKCs defense to scramble. It’s a great coup for the Thunder’s defense, as the Lakers came into the contest sporting the best field-goal percentage as a team so far in the NBA season. The Lakers settled for many bad shots, often jacking up threes late in the shot clock. Luka’s shot selection in particular left much to be desired. Surprisingly, the rebounding battle was a wash, at 42. But the discrepancy in turnovers, as well as points in the paint (48 by OKC to 30 from LA) put the Lakers at a handicap, and against great teams, that’s simply an impossible hill to climb.

These games are part of the learning curve, as the Lakers still have much to learn. The defense has been starting to show cracks, so far in this road trip, as OKC fully exposed last night. But the team can hang their heads on a solid 8-4 start thus far, and hopefully they can finish the current road trip on a positive note. They need to get back to the level of execution that we saw early on, namely tighter half-court precision, taking care of the basketball, and more importantly sharing the basketball. They’ll get the chance to show that against the New Orleans Pelicans this Friday, after which they’ll travel to Milwaukee where they’ll take on the Bucks during the second night of a back-to-back. Hopefully the team will have the pride to prove how this game was an aberration, if not then this might be the start of a rough patch in the early goings of the season. We’ll see how they respond. Go Lakers.