Sunday afternoon presented a daunting challenge for the Los Angeles Lakers as they took on the No. 1 seeded Oklahoma City Thunder in a mini two-game series on the road. However, Austin Reaves and company were ready to play on both sides of the floor.
All season long, L.A. has been able to take care of business against above .500 teams, especially in the Western Conference, and their first matchup with the Thunder was no different. Reaves continued his strong play by chipping in 20 points and four 3-pointers, while the team made 22 of their 40 attempts, good for a season-high.
The Lakers can control where they finish in the playoff race by winning out and every game is crucial, so Reaves acknowledged that this victory against Oklahoma City was a big one, via Spectrum SportsNet:
“Yeah, it’s huge. They got the best record in basketball I believe and with where the standings are, you can go from third to I believe eighth in the snap of a finger. So for us to come in here and play such a good team the way we did tonight is big and hopefully we can continue that momentum into Tuesday.”
The Thunder had the best home record coming into Sunday’s game at 34-5 and for L.A. to pick up a win of that magnitude with the playoffs a week away, Reaves knows that they can look back positively on this one:
“Yeah, anytime you play like that, regardless of who you’re playing, you can go watch that stuff and see what you can build on. There wasn’t too many chaotic possessions for us on offense, and defensively we didn’t have too many breakdowns. I feel like we kept those to a minimal tonight. I think we kept them off the free throw line really well and we paid attention to the details tonight and just played a really good game.”
Defense is an area of concern as of late with the Lakers not being connected on their rotations, but the fourth-year guard pointed to the team’s defense in picking up this victory:
“Defensively, we were locked in and then obviously it helps when you shoot really well from 3 too. But I think it started on the defensive end. Locked in, getting stops, running and then when we slowed down, we got into stuff that worked for us.”
Teams with championship aspirations typically play their best basketball ahead of the playoffs and this caliber of win against the Thunder demonstrates where L.A. is with four games remaining.
Austin Reaves & Luka Doncic knows Lakers are in for challenge against Thunder
The Lakers have had their fair share of road struggles this season and heading into Oklahoma City for two straight is no easy task. Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves knew what they were in for these two games against the No. 1 seed, and now they have to replicate that energy in the second matchup on Tuesday.
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