LAKERS -at- THUNDER - 4-6-25 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

[DancingBarry]

Three and D... The Lakers showed out on both ends of the floor at OKC in this one.

Both teams scored at a high clip in the first 5 minutes until L.A. went to Luka with Rui, DFS, Goodwin and Vincent. They tightened up the D and kept the offense flowing. By the end of the first, the Lakers would lead 42-32.

The key stretch of the game took place in the first few minutes of the second quarter. The Lakers outscored the Thunder 13-3 with threes from AR and Bron and in a flash (3 minutes) the lead was now 20 points.

The lead was trimmed to 13 a couple minutes later and JJ took a timeout, shuffled in some new players and stretched the lead back up as the Lakers continued to hit from three -- an 11-0 run over 1:45 of action.

“They maintained that cushion throughout the game and that’s really hard to do,” JJ said.

They’d push the lead up to as many as 29 in that second quarter, and the Thunder would never really threaten again.

After giving up the 32-point first quarter, the Lakers would hold them to 24, 21 and 22 points a quarter for the remainder of the game. The Lakers held on to the 126-99 win.


LeBron -- -- “It’s the final stretch heading into the post season so we’re trying to rack up great habits,” Bron said. He said the Thunder knows who they are and the Lakers are just starting to figure out who they are. On the defensive end, we saw Bron at times in the middle of the zone in our smaller lineups. He was barking at teammates on where they should have been when there were breakdowns. Offensively, again a lot of postups and turnaround jumpers by Bron. Only one three in the game, which he made. He moved the ball well, finding Gabe for a couple of threes and setting up Hayes early on. He also hit Rui filling a lane with a bounce pass for a transition And-1. If you are Rui/DFS/Vincent there are a lot of good shots available to you. The Stats: He scored 19 points on 9-16 shooting (1-1 from three) to go with 3 boards (2 offensive), 7 assists, 1 steal and 2 turnovers in 34 minutes. He was a +7.

Luka -- -- The three ball was dropping early and he took advantage of that against mismatches with big men. He’d score 22 in the first half. Good job by Luka on double teams on the perimeter, he stretched out the D deep onto the perimeter and then gave the ball up to open shooters for threes or to Goodwin once for a lob to Rui at the rim. JJ mentioned the highlight pass in his post game. Luka attacked right and threw a blind pass over his head to Gabe in the corner for an open three. JJ was telling him to “hit the smash” with Gabe open. After that his assistant told JJ, “He sees it. No need to tell him.” Lol. “That was a pretty good pass,” Luka said afterward. He had another couple highlight scores around the rim, one pulling it down and throwing it back up and in after being fouled. The other a high off the glass bank that barely touched the rim and net as it went in. The Stats: He scored 30 points on 11-20 shooting (5-11 from three, 3-4 from the line) to go with 7 boards, 6 assists, 2 steals, 2 turnovers and 2 fouls in 37 minutes. He was a +18.

Reaves -- -- He’s been on fire from three. Maybe it was contagious as the whole team joined him in this one. He’s a threat on the pull-ups when defenders go into drop. He’s money when wide open and the Lakers are generating a lot of those good catch-and-shoot looks. He nailed one of those in the corner on the break from a Bron kickout. A couple turnovers in the first five minutes, then cleaned it up. We saw a rare drive baseline where he kept the dribble alive, then hit the turnaround jumper, a little Nash-like. The Stats: He scored 20 points on 7-15 shooting (4-8 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 3 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 3 turnovers and 1 foul in 34 minutes. He was a +14.

Hachimura -- -- A lot of switching by the Lakers on D left Rui on guys like SGA at times. Great defensive stand in the first quarter on one of those, not biting on fakes, staying in front of him and forcing a pass, which led to a long heave from three and a miss. Bron talked about the team staying disciplined and this was an excellent example. In the third quarter, a nice sequence where Rui kept SGA out of the middle and guided him to the help man (AR) before SGA missed a fading three. Offensively, a lot of open looks from the corners for this team and Rui could have had a few more points in this one had he been on target. The Stats: He scored 11 points on 4-10 shooting (2-6 from three, 1-1 from the line) to go with 7 boards, 1 assist, 1 block, 1 turnover and 3 fouls in 32 minutes. He was a +8.

Hayes -- -- They looked to establish him early with a drive by Luka off a double drag to hit him for a dunk. Then Bron found him in the paint for FTs shortly later. He’d later score on a putback jumphook. In the third, he’d hammer a two-handed dunk on the roll and force a timeout. He was called for a couple of moving screens in this game, both were a little questionable. Short minutes, the Lakers really leaning into the small ball action despite OKC having some length in their frontcourt. He was getting tangled up and ending up on the floor a bit in this game and wasn’t too pleased about no love from the officials. The Stats: He scored 7 points on 3-4 shooting (1-4 from the line) to go with 5 boards, 2 turnovers and 2 fouls in 13 minutes. He was a +10.

Finney-Smith -- -- Defensively, we brought him in off the bench for Hayes, but to cover the point of attack with SGA. A lot of switching by the Lakers to protect the paint and the rim. I love the fire from DFS on the defensive end. There was a play where Jaxson got a stop and ended up on the floor and DFS was yelling over him, amped up. DFS is glue defensively, but when he’s also knocking down the threes at a high clip, it’s trouble. He sank 4 of 5 tonight. Luka found him in the corner for three, Bron found him in the corner on a swing pass. Gabe found him in the corner for three, (AR should have found him but got blocked). But those are great looks and we’re creating them with consistency. Look at the +/- here in his 30 minutes. The Stats: He scored 14 points on 4-5 shooting from three (2-2 from the line) to go with 7 boards, 2 assists, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 30 minutes. He was a +28.

Vincent -- -- I think we need more minutes from Gabe in general and probably a little less from Goodwin. We’ll see how that plays out come playoff time, but Gabe is such a threat from three that we can get him, DFS, Rui all spacing the floor that it’s tough for teams to handle. They can typically just wait for the ball to find them. Run to the corners and get ready (he knocked down a tough one of those in transition in the third). Two-way ball is the name of the game come post season. Gabe can help with the 5-out two-way lineups that will be tough to beat. The Stats: He scored 12 points on 4-7 shooting from three to go with 3 boards, 3 assists and 3 fouls in 26 minutes. He was a +21.

Vanderbilt -- -- I love seeing teams try to work an advantage off a screen only to see we are switching and now they just matched up with Vando. Or they get past a first defender only to see Vando challenging at the rim or the shot. We sat Hayes early for DFS, but we also run Vando kind of like our center on offense while he disrupts things with activity on D. Vando was pulled down from behind trying to power up under the hoop for a Thunder flagrant. Looked awkward, but he seemed to be fine. Good energy, need to cut down on the turnovers that give the ball right back (one of his steals, he threw away in transition). The Stats: He scored 3 points on 0-1 shooting (3-4 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 1 assist, 2 steals, 2 turnovers and 1 foul in 15 minutes. He was a +4.

Knecht -- -- Limited action. He scored on a three in garbage time but saw brief spot duty in that second quarter. The defense seemed a little confused, so JJ may be keeping the leash short against top teams. The Stats: He scored 3 points on 1-1 shooting from three to go with 1 foul in 5 minutes. He was a +5.

Goodwin -- -- Short minutes, but he hit the boards hard and got a lot of shots up. One of his misses, he got back and reset the offense. Hit two buckets, he hit a floater down the middle of the lane and also swished a turnaround 15-footer. Bad pass at the top of the arc, one of those flat ones that was picked for a dunk. The Stats: He scored 4 points on 2-4 shooting to go with 5 boards (1 offensive), 2 assists and 2 turnovers in 9 minutes. He was a +12.

Koloko -- -- In for garbage time. Nothing to report. The Stats: He didn’t score and had 1 board in 2 minutes. He was a +4.

Bronny -- -- He came in for the final 2 minutes of garbage time. He drilled a pull-up three in transition, the Lakers 22nd of the game. The Stats: He scored 3 points on 1-1 shooting to go with 1 board in 2 minutes. He was a +4.

Redick -- -- “We were very connected in both intent and spirit on both ends of the floor,” JJ said. Defensively, a lot of switching, small ball and zone mixed in… The Lakers made 22-40 from three. The Thunder hit 12-37. So L.A. had a +30 from three. This made up for losing the turnover battle 15-7… “We got some great uncontested corner threes,” JJ said… A couple successful challenges in this game. JJ’s record is 34-19 on those this season… Big win with the standings tight. Let’s see if they can repeat it…

[danzag]

First! BEST WIN OF THE SEASON.
LET'S GO

[Dr. Laker]

Thanks, DB! I didn't watch so I avoided the jinx.
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On Lakersground, a concern troll is someone who is a fan of another team, but pretends to be a Lakers fan with "concerns".

[tox]

Thanks DB! Woke up to this win in Australia, love to see it

[Laker7]

Thanks DB!
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Lets go Lakers!

[waterman40]

Thank you!
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LAKERS 2019-2020: NBA World Champions!

[Nobody]

Such a satisfying win.

Thanks, DB!

[RI Laker]

Thanks DB.

[ribeye]

Yep. Thanks DB. Thanks Coach and coaches. Thanks Lakers. It is so much better waking up knowing there was a victory, and not only a victory, but a convincing one, winning every single freeking quarter!
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Hey Doge, ever hear of “measure twice, cut once?” It is not cut first and measure later.

[TooMuchMajicBuss]

Thanks DB! Excellent write up as always, and great game for the Lakers to pull it back all together again! Lakers won every quarter and maintained focus. Yes!

Great to see everyone healthy and the defense re-emerge. Luka, LeBron, Austin, Rui, Jaxson, Vincent, DFS, Vando, plus spot help from Goodwin. JJ's playoff rotation, it appears. That looked like a very effective playoff rotation, for both scoring and everyone playing on the same page on defense.

Tough stretch to maintain that #3 seed over the last 4 games, particularly turning around and having to repeat this on the road against the Western favorite. But that's what we'll see in the playoffs. Good preview, and a great game.

[lakerjoshua]

Great way to spend a Sunday afternoon! Thanks for the write-up DB!

[A Mad Chinaman]

Great win is that these Lakers have the potential and ability to win against the top NBA teams when they are focused and disciplined.

Tuesday will show how ready they are to go deep into the playoffs because the Thunder will not want to lose 4 games (or was it 3 games) in a row.