The Los Angeles Lakers showed how dangerous their Big 3 is in Sunday’s Road victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder, the NBA’s best-recorded team.
The Lakers (48-30) can bolster that impression when they ran it against the Host Thunder on Tuesday.
“The three we have are all elite offensive players,” Lakers manager JJ Redick said of Luka Donsic, LeBron James and Austin Reeves. “We can try it from the best night to night to see where our weaknesses are and where we can create benefits.”
In Sunday’s 126-99 victory, Don Sic and Reeves paired nine of Los Angeles’ season-high 22-pointers.
“The addition of Luka and subtraction of (Anthony Davis) will result in more boundaries and less interiors,” said Oklahoma City Guard Shy Gilgauss-Alexander.
Thunder’s Mark Deigno coach said there’s a balanced act of not putting much stock in previous games but also trying to learn something from it.
Oklahoma City (64-14) won the top seed at the Western Conference almost three weeks ago. This won the next seven games to extend the winning streak to 11, but the Thunder dropped their second back-to-back game of the season.
“If you leave someone alone at the gym, they usually don’t shoot it well from three,” Daigneault said. “So there’s a shot-making element. But I think there are also some focus elements that were lacking in the game.”
Several Thunder players say they are fighting human nature to prevent lulls heading into the postseason.
“We don’t use that as an excuse, and we’re not going to change our position, whether we win or lose, so of course it’s going to slip in,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “The challenges for every team are different, and the challenge is to make sure we stay focused and maintain that sense of urgency.”
Jalen Williams said Thunder should continue doing what he’s done throughout the season and will not overreact to the last two games.
“I don’t think it’s lost,” Williams said. “I don’t know about ‘Find it again’. It has not been lost.
With another victory, the Thunder set a single-season franchise record for victory. It surpassed the 1995-96 team, when the franchise went 64-18 when they were in Seattle.
The Thunder are looking forward to the postseason, but Los Angeles still has a lot to play in the regular season.
The Lakers took the game third in the Western Conference, second in the 3 1/2 game behind Houston, and third in the 1 1/2 game ahead of Denver, with four remaining games remaining. They are the second highest and can be as low as the eighth.
Donsic said that combined with Oklahoma City’s playoff-like environment and competitive races at Western Conference will help sharpen his focus.
“It’s very difficult to play here,” Donsic said. “It’s very difficult to win, but looking at the rankings today, it’s crazy in the West. It brings me a competitive spirit from me.”
Tuesday’s game is the first of the Lakers’ consecutive games to play Wednesday in Don Sic’s first game in Dallas since they were traded for Davis on February 2nd.
– Field-level media
