Without Luka Doncic, Lakers come up short against

In the eyes of Lakers coach JJ Redick, every staff his group faces is a take a look at. Still, many puzzled if the Lakers’ litmus take a look at would come from going through the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder on Monday evening.

Even with All-Star and league most precious participant Shai Gilgeous-Alexander out with a strained belly, the Thunder are still a downside for most of the league. And the Lakers had to play OKC with their own MVP candidate, Luka Doncic, sitting out for the second straight sport with a left hamstring pressure.

In the end, it got here down to the Lakers not having the ability to maintain off the champion Thunder in the decisive fourth quarter of a 119-110 loss at Crypto.com Arena.

The Lakers (32-19) had six gamers rating in double figures, but the Thunder had seven.

The Lakers shot 50% from the sphere, but the Thunder shot 48.3% from the sphere and 42.4% from three-point vary.

“I think when you play the best teams, and Oklahoma City is clearly, you know they’re the best team, you have to have a really high level of effort, and you have to have a really high level of execution,” Redick said.

LeBron James had 22 factors, 10 assists and six rebounds, Marcus Smart had 19 factors, Austin Reaves 16 off the bench, Jake LaRavia 14 and Rui Hachimura and Jaxon Hayes both had 12 factors.

“You want me to compare us to them?” James responded to a query about the hole between Lakers and Thunder. “That’s a championship team right there, we’re not. We can’t sustain energy and effort for 48 minutes and they can. That’s why they won a championship.”

Reaves gave the Lakers a 99-98 lead on a drive to the basket in the fourth quarter.

But the Thunder just saved coming back, taking a 109-101 lead by outscoring the Lakers 11-2.

The Lakers, too, saved preventing back, getting to within 113-110 on a Hachimura basket.

But Jalen Williams, who had 23 factors in his return to the lineup, saved scoring for the Thunder, making a subject objective, two free throws with 35.9 seconds left and two more with 20.9 seconds left that sealed the sport.

“You’re playing against the best team in the NBA, and they’ve got more depth there, as much depth as anybody,” Redick said. “They got just a bunch of guys that can hurt you.”

Reaves offered the followers with a big-time spotlight, driving down the lane and throwing down a two-handed dunk on Jaylin Williams and Aaron Wiggins to end the first quarter.

But Reaves grew pissed off in the third quarter when a foul wasn’t called on one of his drives. He argued an excessive amount of and was given a technical foul by referee Eric Dalen with two minutes and 13 seconds left in the third.

After the sport, after Reaves had gone six-for-14 from the sphere but just one-for-five from three-point line, he lamented getting the tech.

“I think I just got frustrated when I didn’t get the foul call,” Reaves said. “Got the tech, let that kind of get to me a little bit. But yeah, it was just thought it was obvious. I told Eric. He was the closest ref. If it was anybody else, I’d have said the same thing to em. I just didn’t know how all three of them could miss that. So, I was just a little frustrated after that and couldn’t get back in the flow.”

The Lakers had 20 turnovers the last time they performed at Oklahoma City in a sport L.A. obtained down by as a lot as 37 factors before shedding by 29.

So, one level of emphasis for the Lakers was taking care of the basketball.

They had 10 turnovers in the first half but just 5 in the second half.

The Lakers didn’t flip the ball over in the fourth quarter, but they shot just 38.1% from the sphere in the ultimate 12 minutes, discovering it troublesome to rating against the Thunder’s robust protection.

“Yeah, they play the game the right way,” Reaves said. “I would say 95% of the time they then make the right play, make the right read, like you said, and put stress on your defense rotations. I thought we did a pretty good job. They made a couple tough shots. That’s why they’re probably the best team in the league.”