{"id":662493,"date":"2026-05-10T20:44:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-10T20:44:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/662493\/"},"modified":"2026-05-10T20:44:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-10T20:44:14","slug":"lakers-have-shown-fight-but-against-thunder-that-doesnt-matter-greatest-teams-ever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/662493\/","title":{"rendered":"Lakers have shown fight \u2014 but against Thunder, that doesn\u2019t matter: \u2018Greatest teams ever\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

It might not seem like it by looking at the score.<\/p>\n

But the Lakers<\/a> have shown heart. They\u2019ve shown fight. They\u2019ve shown grit.<\/p>\n

Those may seem like crazy statements considering the Lakers have lost all three of their games against the\u00a0Thunder in their second-round playoff series by an average of 19.7 points, including falling in Game 3, 131-108.<\/p>\n

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But let\u2019s face reality: The Thunder are just vastly superior.<\/p>\n

\"<aLeBron James<\/a>, JJ Redick<\/a> and the Lakers trail the Thunder 3-0 in the series, a deficit nobody in NBA postseason history has ever overcome. Getty Images<\/p>\n

Lakers coach JJ Redick recently called them \u201cone of the greatest teams ever in NBA history.\u201d LA never had a chance in this series.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s fair to wonder if any team can challenge them this postseason.<\/p>\n

The Lakers are running uphill against a team that\u2019s jogging on flat ground. They\u2019re playing six guys against a roster so deep that they constantly have fresh legs on the court and never dip in productivity.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the reason LA trails the series, 3-0. That\u2019s the reason they\u2019re one game away from their season ending.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not because the Lakers haven\u2019t poured out their hearts trying to stay in these games. It\u2019s not because they rolled over without superstar Luka Doncic<\/a>,\u00a0who has been sidelined since April 2 because of a strained hamstring. It\u2019s not because they haven\u2019t given this their all.<\/p>\n

\"Out<\/p>\n

Out since April 2 with a Grade 2 hamstring strain, Lakers star Luka Doncic will most likely miss the entire postseason unless the Lakers make history against the defending champions. Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

The Lakers have done so much right this series.<\/p>\n

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In Game 2, the score was close for 3 \u00bd quarters. In Game 3, it was neck-and-neck for 2 \u00bd quarters.<\/p>\n

But the problem is the Lakers were gassed in both games. Their legs gave out. Meanwhile, the Thunder were barely out of breath.<\/p>\n

The Thunder have outscored the Lakers by an average of 18 points per game in the second half of this series.<\/p>\n

In the first half of Game 3, the Lakers outshot the Thunder from beyond the 3-point line, 55% to 33.3%, but they only entered halftime up by two points, 59-57. And two of their role players were nearly perfect over that period, with Rui Hachimura<\/a> shooting 5-for-7 from the field and Luke Kennard<\/a> shooting 5-for-6.<\/p>\n

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But none of that mattered.<\/p>\n

The Thunder outscored the Lakers in the third quarter, 33-20. In the fourth quarter, they had a 41-29 advantage \u2014 and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander<\/a> only played three minutes.<\/p>\n

The Lakers have to be perfect to be competitive.<\/p>\n

The problem is they can only sustain that level of play for so long with 41-year-old LeBron James as the head of the snake and a roster that\u2019s not very deep.<\/p>\n

As soon as they slow down, the Thunder come roaring into the game, ripping it open.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re so good. So deep. So overwhelming.<\/p>\n

Redick couldn\u2019t help but throw his hands in the air after Game 3, pointing out that they\u2019ve done an excellent\u00a0job containing Gilgeous-Alexander, who has been a shell of himself this series after closing the first round leading all postseason scorers with 33.7 points per game.<\/p>\n

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But that hasn\u2019t made a dent.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe MVP [scores] 18 [points in Game 1], 22 [points in Game 2], 7-of-20 tonight [23 points], and they\u2019ve kicked our ass three straight games,\u201d Redick said. \u201cThey\u2019re an incredible basketball team. It has been that way all series.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The Lakers will face elimination during Game 4 on Monday night. Getty Images<\/p>\n

Guarding the Thunder is like playing Whac-A-Mole.<\/p>\n

Stop one guy? There are four other guys on the court who can score and another five guys on their bench who are just as good.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s scary is their defense is even better than their offense.<\/p>\n

The Thunder make James look his age. They make Austin Reaves<\/a> look frenzied. They make the team\u2019s role players look inconsistent. They pick apart everyone with their top-rated defense.<\/p>\n

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James had just 19 points on 7-for-19 shooting. Reaves had only 17 points on 5-for-13 shooting. The Thunder\u2019s bench outscored the Lakers\u2019 reserves, 44-31.<\/p>\n

Those numbers might not reflect it, but the Lakers\u00a0are giving this their all.<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t an issue with any particular player. This is an issue with their roster. It\u2019s just not able to contend with one of the youngest and deepest teams in the league.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re too top heavy. Too slow. Too outmanned.<\/p>\n

\"LeBron<\/p>\n

LeBron James has been great this postseason, but at 41 years old, it\u2019s hard to keep pace with the younger Thunder. NBAE via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Now they\u2019re staring at a 3-0 precipice, a series deficit so large that no team has ever recovered from it.<\/p>\n

If they can avoid a sweep, that would be a huge accomplishment.<\/p>\n

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\u201cObviously, we gotta [give] everything, s\u2013t,\u201d James said. \u201cEverything and more to beat a team like this. So we gotta be our best. Be at our best on Monday [in Game 4].\u201d<\/p>\n

But let\u2019s be real, their best won\u2019t cut it.<\/p>\n

It can\u2019t.<\/p>\n

Regardless of how much the Lakers fight, the truth is they\u2019re in the wrong weight class against the heavyweight champions.<\/p>\n

The Lakers have shown a lot of heart.<\/p>\n

But against this team, that\u2019s just not enough.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It might not seem like it by looking at the score. But the Lakers have shown heart. They\u2019ve…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":662494,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[64,30097,63,726,528,63857,2873,7896,11473,12843,53897,12841,85,76847],"class_list":["post-662493","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-basketball","tag-au","tag-austin-reaves","tag-australia","tag-basketball","tag-getty-images","tag-jj-redick","tag-lakers","tag-lebron-james","tag-luka-doncic","tag-luke-kennard","tag-rui-hachimura","tag-shai-gilgeous-alexander","tag-sports","tag-the-thunder"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/662493","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=662493"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/662493\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/662494"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=662493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=662493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=662493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}