Head coach JJ Redick knew it would not exactly be smooth sailing for the Los Angeles Lakers after the team’s blockbuster Feb. 2 trade to acquire Luka Doncic.
Redick and the Lakers will get another chance to work on the process when Los Angeles visits the Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday for the first of consecutive games between the teams.
“I don’t think the expectation, at least internally for us, was we’re going to be the 2016-17 Warriors or this year’s Oklahoma City Thunder. We didn’t expect that,” Redick said of the fact his team is being outscored when Doncic, LeBron James and Austin Reaves are on the court at the same time. “So the disjointedness of an in-season trade is there.”
The Lakers seem to be heading in the right direction, though, winning three of their last four. Sunday’s game is the start of a challenging test to close the regular season with Los Angeles playing four of the final five games on the road.
The Lakers (47-30) are coming off a 124-108 home win over the New Orleans Pelicans, where the Doncic-James-Reaves trio combined for 92 points. Doncic led the way with 35 points and Reaves had 30 with six 3-pointers.
“Those guys, I think, are committed to making it work with each other when they’re on the court,” Redick said. “… They’re committed to making it work when there are two of them on the court or one of them is on the court. It’s a work in progress. We all knew that was gonna be the case.”
That cohesion figures to be tested by the Thunder.
While the Pelicans are next-to-last in the NBA in defensive rating at 118.8, Oklahoma City (64-13) leads the league at 106.2.
“We’re gonna have three massive tests, come home and have another massive test, and then play a really tough Portland team,” said Redick, whose team also has visits to Dallas and Portland ahead. “So if our spirit is right, I can live with the result. And I’m pretty confident that the results will be more good than bad.”
While the Thunder’s status as the top seed in the Western Conference is secure with five games left in the regular season, the Lakers are still battling for position.
Los Angeles entered Saturday’s play a half game ahead of the Denver Nuggets for the third spot in the West and 3 1/2 games behind the Houston Rockets for the No. 2 seed.
The Thunder are coming off Friday’s 125-111 loss at Houston, which snapped their 11-game winning streak and ended their chance at becoming the third team in NBA history to win 70 or more games in one season.
“I think you can learn a lot more from a loss,” Oklahoma City’s Jalen Williams said. “I think (with) winning, the sensation gets a little numb to the point where you take a lot of things for granted. When you lose, you start to think about all the stuff that actually go into winning a game.”
Oklahoma City star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander hasn’t been as efficient the last two games, shooting 41.7 percent from the field and 23.1 percent from 3-point range in Wednesday’s win over the Detroit Pistons and Friday’s loss to the Rockets.
Gilgeous-Alexander is shooting 51.9 percent overall and 37.1 percent on 3-pointers this season. He also leads the NBA with 32.6 points per game.
In the only other meeting with the Lakers this season, a 101-93 Thunder win on Nov. 29 in Los Angeles, Gilgeous-Alexander scored 36.
–Field Level Media
