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

Anthony F. Irwin Lakers Post Game Show: LAKERS - THUNDER GAME 1 RECAP: LeBron James Tried To Carry; Austin Reaves No-Shows; OKC Dominates

 

Dan The Lakers Fan Lakers Post Game Show: REAVES HELPS LAKERS TO FIRST LOSS VS OKC....

 

R2G1 Lakers vs Thunder | Postgame Interviews x Highlights: May 5, 2026

 

Pathetic and embarrassed

 

I think mentally the Lakers are showing OKC to much respect

 

A Hammy could take a while. Understandable

 

Reasonable start of the series. We were always behind but always at striking distance too and got it close a couple times. Not much else we can ask for

Really proud of this team and staff, great job

 

Hopefully our guards shoot better from the field tonight.

 

Yup. If he just put 20/5/5 on there with good efficiency, this game was winnable. It was A/R missing shots when the Lakers needed it that seemed to drain the momentum the Lakers had right when they got close.

And that seemed to be the only game the Lakers could win at OKC because Shai didn't exactly play well.

 

If Luka was the one returning, with Austin expected to miss this rd. We'd be up 1-0 feeling like we had a puncher's chance, to win this series. That's the NBA.

 

It's not just Austin "missing shots", the quality of the shots he's getting against OKC haven't been great. That was true Tuesday night and in the regular season matchups. Rushed off-the-dribble jumpers because Wallace or another perimeter defender is speeding him up at the point of attack. Rushed shots near the basket again because Wallace or another perimeter defender is disrupting his rhythm coming off of a pick and Chet/Hartenstein both have great timing/instincts contesting shots near the rim.

I thought Timpf had some good suggestions on Lakers Collective yesterday about how to maybe help with this. Rather than Austin bringing the ball up the court against ball pressure and going into a high P&R, maybe have him start from the corner, get an off-ball screen, and then go into a P&R such that he's starting on the run, rather than trying to set up the P&R from a stationary position. Maybe try to get him in isolation situations more, because right now he is not navigating their drop coverage well. Chet is second only to Wemby in terms of being able to drop and protect the rim, while also staying within striking difference of a P&R ballhandler to deter easy midrange shots and floaters. Hartenstein is good at that too. Try to do more Horns stuff where he's playing off of LeBron at the elbow. Basically, anything except him bringing the ball up and then running a high P&R. He does that really well against most teams, but hasn't been able to do it effectively against OKC in any of the games this year. Which makes sense, they're an incredible defensive team.

 

this all makes sense and also goes to my point in the other thread that reaves isn't "wetting the bed", he's playing against the league's best defense as the primary ballhandler (his ideal role is as secondary to luka, of course).

 

I have a strange feeling that Dalton,not Luke and AR will tie the series

 

All I am reading are excuses. If Reaves ain't that guy, just say it. What was his role against Minny in last year's series? He also wet the bed there as well.

 

Tough crowd

 

Numbers don't look too good when the FT's aren't being called.

We can't pretend Reaves doesn't get a lot of freebie iffy calls in the regular season.

Playoffs, they don't respect Reaves enough to give him those calls that easily.

Almost as many assists as turnovers = not an elite playmaker.

Inefficient from the field. Some of these games were lost by a few possessions so razor thin margins.

Reaves was 100% healthy this series. Are we going to pull more excuses up here or just say Reaves does bad against elite defensive teams? Does he think title contenders aren't going to play great defense?

 

No ,Reaves was injured

 

Minor injury and it happened midway in game 3.

Plenty of players play through these injuries and it's undisclosed. Kobe played through dislocated fingers all bruised up. Are we making excuses for a big toe sprain now? lol.