The second round series between the Los Angeles Lakers and Oklahoma City Thunder begins on Tuesday on the latter’s home court.
Start time and TV schedule
Who: Los Angeles Lakers vs. Oklahoma City Thunder
When: 5:30 p.m. PT, May 5
Where: Paycom Center
Watch: NBC, Peacock
In the Lakers’ first round series against the Houston Rockets, pretty much nobody believed in them because it felt like an impossible task to defeat a healthier team without Luka Dončić and Austin Reaves. They were instantly proven wrong in Game 1 when the Lakers reminded
everyone that they can shock the world, and true enough, that’s what they did.
Now in the second round, nobody believes in the purple and gold once again, but for more justified reasons. After all, the Thunder are the only undefeated squad left in the playoffs and made light work of the Suns with an average margin of victory of 14.5 points per game.
It also doesn’t help that Oklahoma dominated Los Angeles four times during the regular season. The Thunder had an average margin of 29.3 points per game, which was the largest regular-season point differential between two teams in the same conference. The Lakers weren’t always healthy in those matchups, which will also be the case again in this series without Dončić for now.
Matchup overview
Besides Dončić, Jalen Williams also won’t be suiting up due to a hamstring injury, so that’s also one less superstar for the Thunder. Despite Williams’ absence, OKC is still very capable of playing at a high level because it has offensive firepower. On top of that, they employ the reigning MVP in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who averaged 33.8 points, 8.0 assists and 3.8 rebounds per game in the first round.
As for the Lakers, LeBron James — who averaged 26.0 points, 9.0 rebounds and 8.5 assists per game in the first round —will for sure take charge of the offense once again, but he’s going to need his teammates to take their game to another level again. In fairness to Deandre Ayton, Rui Hachimura, Luke Kennard and Marcus Smart, they all played very well in the first round. But it’s going to take more than skill, grit and heart to defeat this Thunder team.
The Lakers as a whole will have to be efficient and sharp on both ends of the floor. They will need to match the Thunder’s pace, aggressiveness and mental fortitude. It’s likely that OKC will expose Los Angeles’ inferior offense as seen in the first round when L.A. failed to score more than 100 points in three games. The Thunder will definitely turn it up on defense and fire away from downtown, where they rank second in the playoffs in attempts per game.
It’ll be up to the Lakers to respond and counter.
The Lakers’ chances
In Tagalog — the native language in the Philippines — there’s a well-known saying that goes “bilog ang bola,” which means that anything can happen in a 48-minute of basketball game. It’s easy to dismiss the Lakers and say that they don’t have what it takes to compete against this Thunder team, but time and time again this season, the purple and gold have proven that they’re capable of surprising us and even pulling off miracles.
That’s not to say that there’s no chance the Lakers get gentlemen swept, but at the very least, they’re still worth tuning in and rooting for. They’ve reached the semifinals and are considered a top-eight team. That alone is worth being hopeful about.
Regardless of the result, there’s a good chance that the Lakers will go all out on this one and hopefully it leads to stealing a game or two in Oklahoma.
Let’s see if the Lakers can pull off a miracle against the Thunder in Game 1 on Tuesday.
Notes and Updates
- The Lakers’ injury report states Luka Dončić (left hamstring strain) are officially out for this one.
- As for the Thunder, Jalen Williams (left hamstring strain) and Thomas Sorber (ACL surgery reocvery) as out.
You can follow Nicole on Twitter at @nicoleganglani.
