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Lakers’ defense was good — but not good enough in Game 1 loss to Thunder
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- Lakers’ defense was good — but not good enough in Game 1 loss to Thunder
OKLAHOMA CITY — By most standards, the Lakers had an objectively strong defensive game in their Game 1 loss to the Thunder on Tuesday night at Paycom Center to kick off the best-of-seven second-round playoff series.
The Lakers held the Thunder to their worst offensive rating (116.1) and lowest scoring total (108) so far in the playoffs.
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After a higher-scoring first half, the Lakers held the Thunder to 47 second-half points and forced the typically ball-secure Thunder to commit 16 turnovers.
The Lakers’ defense slowed NBA MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, but it still wasn’t enough to defeat the Thunder in Game 1. Getty Images
They accomplished their goal of limiting the effectiveness of reigning MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander , who had 18 points on 8-of-15 shooting and six assists for his lowest-scoring game since Game 3 of the 2025 Western Conference finals.
Gilgeous-Alexander’s seven turnovers were his most since Game 6 of the 2025 NBA Finals, with the Lakers’ aggressive defensive coverages of traps and double teams accomplishing their goal of getting the ball out of the reigning MVP’s hands.
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There was a lot to like about the Lakers’ defense.
A lot that went well.
And yet, it wasn’t close to enough .
“I don’t think there was a turning point, it was a general theme throughout the night: When we made game-plan mistakes, it bit us,” coach JJ Redick said. “You’re playing the world champs, your margin for error in terms of mistakes is not high. You make mistakes, basketball is a game full of mistakes, it was just too many. We’ve got to clean that up.
There [were] some good things. We won [the] expected score, held Shai under 20, seven turnovers. Guys played hard; we just got to do a better job with execution. And it comes down to just the details with that.”
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Redick acknowledged most of the execution errors were on the defensive end despite his team overall having a strong performance.
Even when the Lakers trapped or double-teamed Gilgeous-Alexander, the extra defender wasn’t always coming from the right place.
“The game plan defensively,” Redick said, “whether it was a coverage thing or a Shai coverage, just seemed like every time we didn’t execute, they hurt us.”
The Lakers’ Marcus Smart (36) and LeBron James helped hold the Thunder to 47 second-half points Tuesday. AP
And sometimes the Lakers didn’t help off the right players — or didn’t make the right rotations behind the double teams — leaving them vulnerable on the backside.
“We didn’t communicate well and that stuff,” Rui Hachimura said. “I made a couple of mistakes on that, too. We did a solid job, but I think we could have been better.”
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Better would’ve been the Lakers not leaving Jared McCain , who knocked down three 3-pointers by this point in the game, open in the left corner after a defensive breakdown midway through the fourth quarter, giving McCain all of the time and space needed to knock down a wide-open 3 to give the Thunder a 101-82 lead.
Or being more precise with how they played after the Thunder grabbed an offensive rebound.
The Thunder didn’t get many second-chance opportunities, with their nine offensive rebounds and 31.8% offensive rebounding rate being below-average marks for them.
But they were very opportunistic and capitalized off those extra opportunities, scoring 21 second-chance points.
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“When they did get an offensive rebound, it absolutely killed us,” Redick said. “Because we didn’t do a good job of building back out on the offensive rebound.”
The film from Game 1 will show a lot of good defensive moments and sequences from the Lakers.
A lot they should try to replicate in Thursday’s Game 2 at Paycom Center, specifically forcing the non-Gilgeous-Alexander Thunder players to make plays, especially with star forward Jalen Williams sidelined.
But the film will also show plenty of “not good enough. ”
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