OKLAHOMA CITY — The Lakers haven’t had aShai Gilgeous-Alexander problem.
They’ve had a non-Shai Gilgeous-Alexander problem.
Which is much worse, and one of the biggest reasons they’re trailing the Thunder, 0-2, in their best-of-seven second-round playoff series, which shifts to Los Angeles for Game 3 on Saturday and Game 4 on Monday afterthe Lakers’ Game 2 loss Thursday.
The Lakers are looking to avoid falling behind 0-3 — a deficit no team has overcome in a playoff series.
And if they don’t figure out how to win the minutes when Gilgeous-Alexander, the reigning MVP who’ll likely repeat, isn’t on the floor, they’re facing quick elimination at the hands of the defending NBA champions.
“I talked about it a little bit [on Wednesday], them being plus-nine in the non-SGA minutes [in Game 1],”coach JJ Redicksaid. “And then in the second half, we just got blitzed, 32-14, seven turnovers. They shot 14 free throws during that stretch. So we got to look at lineups, look at everything, try to figure out how we can be better in those minutes.”
The Thunder outscored the Lakers by nine points in the 13 minutes Gilgeous-Alexander didn’t play during Game 1.
They were even better without their best player in Game 2’s 125-107 victory, outscoring the Lakers by 13 points in the 20 minutes Gilgeous-Alexander was on the bench, giving the Thunder a combined 22-point advantage across 33 minutes in the first two games of the series when Gilgeous-Alexander wasn’t on the floor.
The Thunder have been a plus-14 in the 63 minutes he has played in the series.
“We got to keep up the intensity even when he’s out,” Rui Hachimura said. “When he got off the court, we kind of relaxed a little bit. We still have to keep our intensity up. All these guys, they can make plays. We can’t have those little mistakes.”
Source: California Post – Breaking California News, Photos & Videos
