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Outmuscled by Anthony Davis and Lakers, Chet Holmgren says OKC Thunder 'can be better'
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- Outmuscled by Anthony Davis and Lakers, Chet Holmgren says OKC Thunder 'can be better'
LOS ANGELES — The Thunder 's fate while down more than 20 points midway through the fourth quarter, its starters done for the night, didn't feel much different than it did just before halftime.
Seconds before the break, LeBron James played part in as deflating and emblematic a sequence as there was in the Thunder's 116-104 Monday night defeat against the Lakers .
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After a half of being bumped off drives, met at the rim and shown a level of physicality few teams have offered the Thunder , Shai Gilgeous-Alexander put his head down for another. This time, he was forced to cough up the ball.
Even in his 21st season, the steam behind James' fastbreaks fogs up glasses and fuels engines. Despite being met by perhaps Oklahoma City 's two most qualified henchmen as far as muscle goes — Jalen Williams and human boulder Lu Dort — James brushed off those in his path. He played hot potato with D'Angelo Russell, finishing a layup through a Dort swipe that probably felt like a mosquito bite.
Seemingly all of OKC's potential momentum swings were met by demoralizing sequences of brute force.
"I just didn't think we were sharp offensively as we needed to be," Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. "A team like that that's got size and physicality, that's like a requirement to get good shots against them."
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More: OKC Thunder's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander could make Kentucky basketball history in MVP race
Lakers force an off night for Thunder, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
The Thunder's blade has hardly been dull this season with crafty creators like Gilgeous-Alexander and Williams. With Lakers (34-29) flying toward them on the perimeter, sitting in the gap or lurking like Anthony Davis was, OKC attempted to navigate that while blindfolded.
The results bore withered fruit: Gilgeous-Alexander finished with 20 points, seven rebounds and four assists, an off-game for the MVP candidate by every measure of this season. Williams had seven points on 2-for-9 shooting, his second fewest points in any game this season.
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Down the lane, Davis' limbs seemingly stretched, and his reach engulfed the floor from sideline to sideline. His three blocks and constant intimidation and redirection were folkloric. He helped force OKC to shoot 39.4% from the floor.
Davis was the Boogeyman. The Thunder only heightened his legend.
And that was all before he could demonstrate his wrath on the other end.
Davis ran the third quarter. Any semblance of shotmaking that came following Lu Dort's idle hot streak (15 points, 5 for 7 from 3) was sent to the abyss of plays that didn't matter once Davis received the ball. The 6-foot-11 big man was overwhelming.
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In between absurd shots that belonged on the And-1 Tour, Davis vacuumed any misses, a tradeoff OKC is admittedly willing to deal with. That tradeoff became a dilemma. That dilemma became a disaster.
More: Why OKC Thunder, Mark Daigneault are not 'trying to chase our shadow' with rebounding
Lakers forward Anthony Davis (3) gets the rebound against Thunder forward Chet Holmgren (7) during the first half Monday night in Los Angeles.
Thunder can't stop Anthony Davis
In the third quarter alone, Davis tallied 15 points, seven rebounds and sprinkled in seven life-stripping free throws.
Williams didn't want to talk about 3-point variance. Or how a team just barely in the top half of the league's 3-point shooting teams knocked down 16 of 34. He especially didn't care to talk about the stretch where Russell drilled three straight.
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"The 3s didn't really hurt us like that," Williams said. "I think what hurt us was rebounds."
And general physicality. And a lack of energy. And a lack of scoring options once the shots stopped falling and the turnovers slowed. And Davis, of course.
OKC (42-19) felt all of it just a day after its own trade offs came in handy. It watched Phoenix's Jusuf Nurkic grab a league-high 31 rebounds , which hardly meant anything for Sunday's result.
It's still honing the push and pull that comes with accepting an identity, a couple of its notable samples coming on opposite spectrums and within 24 hours of each other. The Thunder will continue to look itself in the mirror for much longer than that.
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"I'm not gonna sit here and say, like, 'No, we can't be better at certain things,'" rookie Chet Holmgren said. "Yes, of course we can be better at certain things. … If you're a really good team, you can still win a game on a bad shooting night."
More: What is OKC Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's path to hoisting the NBA MVP trophy?
Thunder at Trail Blazers
TIPOFF:9 p.m. Wednesday at Moda Center in Portland (Bally Sports Oklahoma)
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OKC Thunder can't stop Anthony Davis, LeBron James in loss vs. Lakers
