LOS ANGELES -- The Lakers would have a 7-2 record if they had held two huge leads against the Oklahoma City Thunder -- 26 on the road and 19 at Staples Center last Thursday night -- and OKC would be winless at 0-8.
Unfortunately, this is not the case. The Thunder outscored L.A.'s Lakers 35-24 during the fourth quarter, and won 107-104 on Thursday. This was their second win from behind against L.A., leaving the Lakers scratching their heads once more about what happened.
Anthony Davis said that L.A. was "defensivively all over the place" and that his 29 points, 18 rebound, 5 assists, and 5 assists were not enough to win the game. "I felt like they were waiting for our coverages and were picking us apart. They made 15 3s tonight again, and this is why they keep coming in against us.
After going 15-for-40 from 3, the Thunder were 15-for41 from 3. This follows a win of 15-for-3 from 3. Frank Vogel's defense has been ranked in the top three every season for the Lakers. L.A. now allows 107.2 points per 100 possessions after the Thunder loss, placing them in the bottom half (17th) of the league.
When Davis was asked about defensive mistakes, Davis stated that the Lakers were following the plans that were requested of them. However, the Thunder were ready to take them down.
"I mean they knew what we were doing, kind of did that entire second half and their coach or Shai [Gilgeous-Alexander], whoever it was that made the adjustment to put their players in the right spot," Davis said. They made shots."
The game was down to Gilgeous-Alexander's shot, a 34-footer from logo with 16 seconds remaining on the shot clock. There were also 1:18 left in game time to give the Thunder six points. This was the shot Russell Westbrook missed.
After Carmelo Anthony had made it a one-possession match, Westbrook moved the ball up the court but missed a three from the wing with 3.5 seconds left. Instead of trying to find the hot hand, Westbrook attempted to push the ball up the court.
Vogel stated that Westbrook's decision not to shoot the shot was "not good enough." We want a better shot than this. It was not a great spacing. We tried to get Melo up to the top of our floor, but the spacing was not great."
The Lakers have been plagued by injuries, including LeBron James missing his third game with an abdominal strain. Davis also suffered a sprained right thumb but was able to play through it.
No matter what record they may have, teams seem to bring the competition to L.A. with a rigor the Lakers are not equipped to match.
It's something we talk about. It's something we talk about all the time. Anthony scored 21 and witnessed L.A. lose its fourth consecutive game in which he scored 20+. "So that's not the elephant in the room. This is something we talk about. That's something we know, and we talk about it.
"It's like you see tonight, [Darius] Bazley. We go over his stats, we scout this. He comes against us, and he makes most 3s against our team. It's going to happen. It's up to us to accept that. Accept that fact and make sure to turn off the water when it is needed.
Bazley went 8-for-37 in deep Thursday, and was 2-for-3 against Lakers.
The Lakers are clear that they want to win the championship.
It has been a slow start. There's still plenty of basketball left to play before we reach the finish line.
When Westbrook was asked about his injury woes, Westbrook replied "It's fascinating." "But you know... "But you know... We work with whatever it is and whatever it's possible to do so. We've never had our entire team -- not even close.
"So, we just have to accept what we have and make the most of it. We must also compete to our best ability."
