LOS ANGELES — Regardless of what came beforehand or what’ll come afterwards — and the Lakers didn’t have much time to dwell on Monday’s loss to the Thunder since they host the Spurs Tuesday night — a matchup against the defending NBA champions will always be a measuring stick game in their quest to contend for a title.
Their blowout victory and narrow defeat in back-to-back games to the Thunder last April showed they had what it took to compete with, and beat, anyone when they’re focused because of their high-end talent.
The blowout defeat earlier this season in November in Oklahoma City, with the Lakers missing LeBron James but the Thunder being without Jalen Williams, showed the Lakers, at the time, they lacked the requisite physicality and energy to compete with a team on the Thunder’s level.
What lesson came from Monday’s defeat, which came with the Lakers being without Luka Doncic but the Thunder being without reigning MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander?
“That’s a championship team right there,” James said. “We’re not.”
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A strong statement from James, especially considering he was asked what he saw the biggest gaps were between his team and the Thunder.
He elaborated on his sentiments.
“We can’t sustain energy and effort for 48 minutes, and they can,” James said. “That’s why they won the championship.”
The Lakers had the energy to take an eight-point lead in the third against the Thunder after trailing by as many as 14 points in the second.
But not enough to grab crucial late rebounds, with the Thunder scoring 11 second-chance points off four offensive rebounds in the fourth.
Or stick with their basic defensive principles.
Or execute their offense as desired in the ways that helped them stay in the game, and at one point have an advantage, in the first place.
“When you play the best teams, and Oklahoma City is clearly the best team, you have to have a really high level of effort, and you have to have a really high level of execution; it’s got to be both,” coach JJ Redick said. “For the most part, our effort was fantastic, and then key stretches of the game, our execution wasn’t great. A lot of that for me was just our defensively, our basic shell principles. To start the fourth, I didn’t think we did a good job of getting LeBron the ball. Some of that was we called plays and we didn’t execute. Some of that was just not having the recognition.”
Maybe the Thunder’s physicality eventually wore the Lakers down. Multiple Lakers players were visibly exhausted in the locker room after Monday’s game.
When fatigue factors in, the true character of a team can show.
And what Monday showed is there are gaps – even small ones that they’ve narrowed since the fall – that separate the Lakers from being a true contender.
“Obviously we have a little ways to go, but we’re on the right track,” Marcus Smart said. “The way we fought, our sense of urgency, all the way up to the last five minutes, we were playing great basketball on both ends of the floor. A good measuring stick for us. I think we’re in the right spot. We just gotta clean up some things. I think we’ll be all right.”
