2026 Playoffs: West Semifinals (1) OKC Thunder Vs (4) LA Lakers

5 Things We Learned From Lakers vs Rockets

 

Lakers-Thunder Series Preview: Prediction, Questions, X-Factors, Stats & More W/ Cranjis

 

NO TIMETABLE for Luka Dončić RETURN. Can Lakers COMPETE AGAINST Thunder Without Him?

 

Luka during the Game 7 intros

 

JJ the first 3 minutes of game 1

 

I'm torn about this one.

On one hand, playing slow means less TO but also less easy points in transition. Adds pressure to our half court offense that can suffer against an elite OKC defense.
On the other hand, it also reduces their easy points off our turnovers and may be the best net positive in the end.

I think in the end I agree with you, we need the games to be scrappy as we don't have the offensive powerhouse to keep up with them.
Winning the possession game is really a way to help us offset the difference in talent. We shall see...

Really don't have much expectations on this one, we're playing with house money. Whatever comes, I take it. Just want us to be competitive.
This is how I would grade our performance in this series:
A: win 2 games or more
B: win 1 game
C: be competitive in all games
D: be competitive in half of the games
E/F: get blown out in all games


I think we steal one game, Smart is really a differentiation factor and we missed him against OKC in the regular season

 

Some hype video from our very own LD2K

 

This isn't about being slow or fast, it is being smart. There will be times for both. Hound the heck out them on defense but keeping the fouls down. Hard to do with the refs favoring them but you have to try. On offense, we need rebounders in position before taking most shots. Scoring off offensive rebounds slows down a running team. We need our game pace to be what we want and slow down theirs. Limit turnovers and rebound.

 

You think this okc team can compete with the 2017 warriors or 96 bulls

 

Nah. There's never been a bigger gap between regular season and postseason basketball. I think the Thunder have mastered regular season basketball in 2026, which is all about athleticism, effort and depth, but in a postseason setting I think they're closer to a "normal" championship caliber team than they are to the all-time great teams. I don't consider our 2020 team an all-time great, but I'd be pretty confident in them beating this OKC team in a 7-game series. I think the 2023 Nuggets would have a pretty good chance against them too, considering the Nuggets almost beat them last year, and I don't consider the 2023 Nuggets some all-time great team either.

The more I've thought about it, if we had a healthy Luka I'd be picking this to be a long series even if they also had JDub healthy.

 

Damn sure couldn't handle the 3 peat Lakers. Or even the Kobe, Pau, Bynum, Odom, Fisher back to back champs. React to me!

 

^This. OKC was about as unimpressive as you can be for a title winner last playoffs, and they should have lost 2 separate series, if the other team wasn't injured.

They looked good in the regular season against most teams, but the way they looked against San Antonio is the way they would look against real championship teams. The Kobe Shaq Lakers would annihilate this OKC team.

 

if wemby's healthy, i think SA has an excellent chance to beat okc.

 

Yeah OKC has still to do a convincing run to the title. It may be this one, but it does open the chance to surprise them, Phoenix were not really a tough test

 

they could probably hang with the KD warriors but they're not beating them in a 7 game series. 96 bulls no way

and not a chance they'd hang with the 3 peat lakers. shaq would eat holmgren's skinny a** alive

 

C Bags Legend Paul Pierce Says LeBron James, Lakers Will Get Swept by OKC: “Just Going to Be Difficult”

 

You beat me to this response. If called fairly, Kobe would completely shut down Free Throw Merchant in every single game. We would sweep them.
Just imagine Shaq vs Chet or iHeart- he would average 45 against them.
Even Pau would destroy their bigs.
Any of Jordan’s Bulls teams would beat OKC.
As for the Dubbs, I couldn’t care less.
The game is just so SOFT today- even compared to our last Chip with Kobe and Pau.

 

JJ Redick Talks Previous Thunder Matchups, Limiting Their Scoring Runs