Led by LeBron James and Austin Reeves, all of the Lakers’ top brass put in their efforts.
But the Lakers will face the defending NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference semifinals, which remains a heavy slog for Los Angeles.
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Although Reeves recovered and scored 31 points on 10-of-16 shooting with six assists, while James also had 23 points and six assists, the Lakers lost Game 2 of their best-of-seven series 125-107 on Thursday night at Paycom Center.
The Lakers trail 2-0 in the series, with Game 3 set to take place on Saturday night at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.
Now the Lakers’ odds of winning this series have increased. In NBA history, only 34 teams have recovered from a 2-0 deficit to win a best-of-seven series, while 431 teams have gone on to win the series.
The Lakers even did well again on Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, double-teaming him and holding the All-Star guard to 22 points.
Chet Holmgren had another outstanding performance with 22 points, 9 rebounds, 4 steals and 2 blocks, and Ajay Mitchell scored 20 points for the Thunder.
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The Lakers, who led by 1 point at halftime, trailed by 13 points at the end of the third quarter, but James’ three-pointer chased the score to 95-89, forcing the Thunder to call a timeout with 8 minutes and 57 seconds left in the game.
The Lakers even narrowed the point difference to 5 points in the fourth quarter, but the Thunder went on a 10-2 run and narrowed the point difference to 13 points with 5 minutes and 53 seconds left in the game, this time forcing Lakers head coach JJ Redick to call a timeout so that his players could calm down.
The Lakers can’t.
One highlight came when Reeves charged Gilgeous-Alexander for his fourth foul with 10:34 left in the third quarter. Gilgeous-Alexander was assessed a flagrant foul and Alex Caruso was assessed a technical foul.
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Reeves made all three free throws and the Lakers led 66-61.
Read more: Frustrated Luka Doncic breaks silence; doctor predicts he’ll miss Thunder series
Gilgeous-Alexander then took a seat on the bench.
However, facing the Thunder, the Lakers were unable to maintain the quality of their game even with Gilgeous-Alexander on the bench.
In the third quarter, the Thunder went on an 18-8 run to lead 93-80.
One of the many keys for the Lakers is getting an efficient Reeves. This was only his fourth game after missing a month with a Grade 2 left hamstring strain, and it showed. Reeves made 13 of 16 shots in the first game, missed all 5 three-pointers, and scored only 8 points.
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Reeves made no excuses for his poor performance.
“He has a strong sense of self-responsibility and, you know, he’s his own harshest critic and he holds himself to the standards that he wants to play,” Lakers coach J.J. Redick said. “Had a great conversation with him yesterday and today. He will be happy to leave.”
Reeves scored 13 points in the first half with the ball distributed.
He missed his first two shots but made 5 of 9 shots in the first half.
James scored 10 points and sent 5 assists, Hachimura scored 11 points, and Marcus Smart scored 8 points. At the same time, he did his best to slow down Alexander. The Lakers led 58-57 at halftime.
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The Lakers frequently sent defenders on Gilgeous-Alexander, double-teaming the league’s most valuable player and forcing the rest of the Thunder to shoot in the first half.
Gilgeous-Alexander only took 9 shots in the first half and made 4 of them.
The Thunder shot just 25% from three-point range in the first 24 minutes.
notes: Lakers forward Jared Vanderbilt was sidelined in Game 2 with a dislocated little finger on his right hand.
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This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.
