The Los Angeles Lakers have given the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder their finest effort, and it shouldn’t be practically ok, as LeBron James and Co. now path their Western Conference semifinals collection, 3-0, following Saturday’s 131-108 defeat.
“The MVP [Shai Gilgeous-Alexander] is 18 [points in Game 1], 22 [points in Game 2], 7-of-20 tonight, and they’ve kicked our ass three straight games,” candid Lakers coach JJ Redick advised reporters following the loss. “They’re an incredible basketball team.”
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Credit Redick, for actual. The coach has had his workforce able to play. For the second straight recreation the Lakers took a lead into halftime, and for a 3rd straight recreation they have been run out of the fitness center in the second half by a youthful, extra proficient rotation.
(And the Thunder don’t even have Jalen Williams, their second-best participant.)
Seriously, give James credit score, too. The man is 41 years outdated, and he has his workforce in the second spherical of the NBA playoffs, regardless of the absence of celebrity Luka Dončić.
But the Lakers don’t belong right here, not with out Doncic. They might have been bounced in the first spherical by some other workforce from the West however the Houston Rockets, who have been with out Kevin Durant for all however one recreation of their collection.
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The Rockets have been a large number. As it turned out, they wanted Fred VanVleet, or any competent level guard, to run a aggressive offense, and they wanted Steven Adams, or one other rebounder, to fabricate second probabilities. They had neither.
And James exploited Houston’s collective inexperience, conducting a masterclass in playoff playmaking, and a hodgepodge of position gamers rallied round him defensively. It was sufficient to take a 3-0 lead against the Rockets and maintain them off in six video games.
It shouldn’t be sufficient against these Thunder, who look ready to defend their title at the highest stage of competitors. And the Lakers are not the highest stage of competitors. They are a cakewalk on OKC’s approach to meet Victor Wembanyama’s San Antonio Spurs or (much less probably) Anthony Edwards’ Minnesota Timberwolves in the convention finals.
“They’re pretty damn good from top to bottom,” stated James when requested if this Thunder workforce compares to the 2017 and 2018 NBA champion Golden State Warriors.
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The league belongs to a youthful technology now, not James, and it has for a while. Gilgeous-Alexander has his Thunder on high of the NBA. Wembanyama’s Spurs are coming for them, and everyone else may be chasing them for some time.
The query is whether or not Dončić can elevate these Lakers to those self same heights. Can they persuade themselves they are on OKC’s stage, if solely they had Dončić? It might be arduous after this collection. After all, who has been their second-best participant in these playoffs? Not Austin Reaves, who was hobbled by an indirect pressure. Marcus Smart? Rui Hachimura? Deandre Ayton is hardly a championship-level starter at this level.
All you need to do is look on the different aspect of this collection to see what a title-worthy roster appears like. The Thunder are available waves, rolling out competitor after competitor behind their stars, Gilgeous-Alexander, Williams (when wholesome) and Chet Holmgren. Ajay Mitchell was Oklahoma City’s hero in Game 3, scoring 24 factors on 17 pictures.
They are sporting out the Lakers, and most of them are simply coming into their primes.
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“There’s a lot of choices,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault advised reporters of what was a 13-man rotation. “It’s obviously a very good problem to have. I trust everybody.”
“This team in-game, because of their personnel, can just adjust like that,” Redick stated of the Thunder. “They need shooting on the floor, great. They need multiple wing defenders on the floor, great. They need two bigs on the floor, great. They’re a terrific basketball team. I said that before the series. I’ve been very impressed with them.
“I still think we can beat them,” he added, “but we’ve gotta be better.”
With a wholesome Dončić (undoubtedly certainly one of the best offensive gamers in the recreation), with Reaves scoring alongside him, and with James working as the league’s best third option, the Lakers might discuss themselves into strikes on the fringes — just a few extra two-way position gamers who can rework this 53-win outfit right into a contender.
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“Look, when you have the league’s leading scorer out there, if he was, it definitely changes the dynamic of a team,” Lakers guard Luke Kennard advised reporters of them lacking Dončić’s 33.5 factors per recreation. “And we know that. Obviously, we miss him.”
That is not going to clear up the inherent defensive problems with playing Doncic, Reaves and James collectively. It additionally doesn’t clear up the undeniable fact that James will flip 42 in December. Can the Lakers actually hinge one other yr of Dončić’s prime to James’ immortality?
This all assumes, too, that James re-signs with the Lakers. He is a free agent at season’s finish. It is unclear if both he or the Lakers need to proceed this partnership. He may envision an easier path to a fifth title elsewhere, and they might take into account getting youthful to attempt to preserve tempo with the Thunder and Spurs in years to return.
Big questions, and the Lakers might have to begin answering them as quickly as Monday.