Two games in four days in Oklahoma City have the Lakers quickly trailing 2-0 in the series, a daunting deficit, considering the opponent they are facing and the fact that history is not on their side. The team that wins the first two of a series advances 92% of the time.
The purple and gold are still without superstar Luka Dončić, who revealed he likely won’t return this series
, while OKC continued to miss All-Star Jalen Williams.Building on Game 1, Game 2 followed a similar script. LA kept it close
while holding the reigning MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to another modest night. OKC’s shot-making took over in the fourth to take another double-digit win.
An important change between the two games came by way of Austin Reaves’ play. In just his fourth game back from a Grade 2 oblique strain, he found his offensive rhythm for a Lakers team in critical need of it.
After a nightmare Game 1 on Tuesday where Reaves finished 3-16 from the field for eight points, he surpassed that total in the first half on Thursday with 13. He ended the night putting up 31 points on 10-16 from the field and six assists, surpassing his previous playoff career high of 23.
Reaves’ first two shots had shades of the previous matchups, overpenetrating and getting blocked by stingy rim protectors in Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein. He eventually settled into his offense, finding rhythm and patience in the pick-and-roll.
The Thunder play drop coverage with their bigs, while their guards aggressively chase the offensive playmaker over the screen. One of the shots available against that defense is the pull-up in the mid-range.
Watch below as the Lakers run their Spain action — the big man screening on the ball receives a back screen from an off-ball player. Luke Kennard, setting the Spain screen, ghosts while Jaxson Hayes rolls hard to the rim.
Reaves navigates around the screen and gets the foul on Cason Wallace with the basket.
To address some of the issues, the Lakers made one key adjustment by running more actions with LeBron James as the main screener. It not only took one of their elite defensive bigs out of the on-ball action, but got LeBron going downhill while involving their two best players in the play.
Watch below as they run the action at the top of the key with shooters spaced and a big man in the dunker spot. Reaves comes around the LeBron screen, whose roll forces Hartenstein to tag and opens Hayes for the floater to put the Lakers up a point at the half.
They ran it again to start the third quarter, getting Reaves downhill for his patented floater.
Reaves and LeBron combined for half of the Lakers’ points and assists but had eight of the 20 turnovers.
Another key shot necessary against this coverage is the pull-up 3-pointer. Watch as Reaves comes off the screen from Deandre Ayton with the big man dropped back. He takes advantage of the open space and knocks down the shot.
Coming into this game, Reaves was just two for his last 17 before hitting 3-6 on Thursday.
“I thought he did a good job touching the paint,” head coach J.J Redick said postgame. “Those touch shots were there tonight. Got some good looks from three. Played a solid game. Obviously, he had five turnovers, but everyone in our team had turnovers.”
While there are no moral victories in the playoffs, nothing short of a win was more important than getting Reaves’ offense going as the series shifts to Los Angeles for Games 3 and 4. The Thunder won the first two battles, but the Lakers are hoping to win the war by finally getting their star guard back on track.
You can follow Raj on X at @RajChipalu
