No team has ever come back from down 3-0 in a playoff series and the Los Angeles Lakers currently find themselves in that position. Despite role players Luke Kennard and Rui Hachimura stepping up, turnovers continue to hurt their chances of winning against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
L.A. had 16 turnovers to the Thunder’s nine in Game 3 and the latter took advantage of those mistakes essentially every single time. Kennard spoke about how little room for error there is when playing the reigning champions.
“I mean, they’re a really good basketball team,” Kennard said of the Thunder after the loss. “They got a really good coach, there’s not a lot of room for error against those guys and we know that. Obviously, we need to have more of an awareness next game. But, yeah they got guys that can make plays and we need to be ready next game.
“Especially in that second half, third quarter especially, it’s just been killing us. We know it, it’s in our minds. Hopefully, we can get together, talk about it tomorrow, figure some things out and be ready to go.”
The Lakers have been in these games, specifically Games 2 and 3, going into halftime with a lead in both. Despite Oklahoma City being a juggernaut of a team, Kennard thinks the Lakers’ second-half shortcomings fall on themselves.
“It’s definitely on us too,” he added. “We’ve been there, especially in those first halves. We’ve done some really, really good things, things that got us a lead against them and it’s just trying to maintain that. I don’t know if we need to do a little bit something different just halftime to stay in it as a group, talk more, talk it out.
“But, I’m already looking forward to tomorrow, getting together, talking to the guys, getting on court and we got to come with a sense of pride back on our home court. Like I said, we gotta be ready to go.”
No team wants to be swept, but Kennard is right about bringing pride into Game 4 and not wanting the season to end at Crypto.com Arena. Similar to the Houston Rockets series, rebounding and turnovers have been an issue for L.A. and oftentimes that comes down to effort.
L.A. has struggled to finish defensive possessions with a rebound and it has led to the Thunder deflating them with multiple second-chance opportunities. LeBron James and Austin Reaves need to set the tone offensively in Game 4 as they struggled on Saturday to find any consistency.
If they come out of the gates firing, role players will need to follow suit and pick up their level of production to keep their season alive.
Luke Kennard explains how Lakers can stop Thunder scoring runs
It is like a ticking time bomb as to when the Thunder are going to go on a game-altering scoring run. So far, it has happened in the second half of each game this series against the Lakers.
Kennard spoke to how L.A. can stop Oklahoma City from manufacturing these runs, but it is easier said than done.
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