The Los Angeles Lakers find themselves down 1-0 in the Western Conference Semifinals following a 108-90 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder at Paycom Center on Tuesday. The Lakers had managed to hang with the Thunder for about three quarters, but couldn’t keep up down the stretch, and head coach JJ Redick was asked postgame about the turning point on the night.
“I don’t think there was a turning point,” Redick said, via Spectrum SportsNet. “I think it was a general theme throughout the night when we made game plan mistakes; they hurt us. I thought the Houston Game 5 was the most game plan mistakes we made in a playoff game so far. We obviously lost that game. You’re playing the world champs; your margin for error in terms of mistakes is not that high.
“You can make mistakes,” Redick continued. “Basketball’s a game full of mistakes. There’s just too many tonight. We got to clean that up. But there were some good things. We won expected score. Held Shai [Gilgeous-Alexander] under 20. He ended up with seven turnovers. The guys played hard.
“We just got to do a better job with execution,” Redick added. “It comes down to just the attention to detail on that, and I know we’ll clean things up and be better.”
If you’d told someone before Game 1 that Thunder superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander would have 18 points (8-15 FG), three rebounds, six assists, one steal, and one block, they might have given the Lakers a shot at winning. Add in seven turnovers as well for Gilgeous-Alexander, and they might have fancied the visitors’ chances of pulling off the upset.
Unfortunately for the Lakers, their own offense wasn’t exactly running smoothly. They went 35-85 (41.2%) from the field and 10-30 (33.3%) from beyond the arc on the night. The 90 points the Lakers scored here were their fewest in these playoffs. It wasn’t on the offensive end, though, that Redick saw most of their execution errors.
“Primarily defensive,” Redick said. “There were some things we did offensively that weren’t necessarily what we had talked about, and sometimes ran a set and didn’t do what we’re supposed to do. But I mean, that always is going to happen. I think the game plan defensively, whether it was a coverage thing or Shai coverage, just seemed like every time we didn’t execute, they hurt us.
“And then the other point of that was when they did get an offensive rebound, they absolutely killed us,” Redick added. “We didn’t do a good job of building back out on the offensive rebound.”
The Lakers hauled in 12 offensive rebounds, compared to nine for the Thunder. You’d imagine if any team were to have more second-chance points, it would be the visitors, but that wasn’t the case. The Thunder had a notable 21-11 advantage in second-chance points. They were able to capitalize when they got the opportunity.
Also, while Gilgeous-Alexander wasn’t at his best, the Thunder still shot 42-85 (49.4%) from the field and 13-30 (43.3%) from beyond the arc. They’re not going to lose too many games in which they’re that efficient.
The Lakers will need to be even better defensively, but they’re also going to have to get some points on the board. Redick was asked here how they can generate more offense.
“We got to make shots,” Redick said. “10-for-30 from three. Austin [Reaves] goes 3-for-16. Thought Luke [Kennard] passed some really good looks down early. Then don’t turn the ball over. We had 10 turnovers in the second half. I mean, that’s the other part.”
The Lakers were going to need a big game from Austin Reaves if they were to win, and he had a stinker. Reaves finished with eight points (3-16 FG), five rebounds, six assists, and one block. Redick is confident he will play better, and you’re sure hope so if you’re the Lakers.
As for the turnovers, limiting them was going to be one of the biggest keys for the Lakers in this series. They had 18 turnovers in Game 1, and that number needs to go down. The Thunder had 20 points off turnovers, and the Lakers cannot afford to give them too many easy scoring opportunities.
Game 2 will tip off at Paycom Center on Thursday at 9:30 p.m. ET. While that’s not a must-win game for the Lakers, you do feel like they need to tie up this series that night if they are to eventually advance.
