No Big Three. No surprise.
Without 80% of their starting lineup, the Lakers, predictably, got crushed by the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday, losing 123-87 to drop their third consecutive game and fall one game out of third place in the Western Conference.
Already without Luka Doncic (hamstring) and Austin Reaves (oblique) for the rest of the regular season, the Lakers had to dig deep in their bench when LeBron James (left foot injury management) and Jaxson Hayes (left foot soreness) were ruled out.
With Marcus Smart (ankle) sidelined for his eighth consecutive game, the Lakers were without five of their top nine players. Even some veterans left from the rotation didn’t inspire confidence early.
Lakers coach JJ Redick called a timeout less than three minutes into the game and benched Rui Hachimura for a missed assignment. Sixteen seconds into the second quarter, Redick called another timeout to remove Jarred Vanderbilt. During the timeout, Vanderbilt approached Redick and needed to be held back by Reaves. The heated conversation continued on the bench, where assistant coach Nate McMillan had to step in to calm down Vanderbilt.
Less than a week ago, the Lakers looked like a connected team ready to make noise in the playoffs. Hit with a dizzying array of injuries, they’re now in survival mode.
“We’ve got to find nine guys that are, like, all-in on us fighting,” Redick said. “Whatever you got to do to go out and fight and be all-in on the team, we’ll find the nine guys. It’s a great opportunity for us, over the next three games, to find those guys.”
Of the exchange with Vanderbilt, Redick said it was “nothing personal with him. Normal stuff from my end” and that a “confluence of events” led to the substitution. Vanderbilt, who had three points with two rebounds and didn’t return to the game after the dust-up, left the arena without speaking to reporters.
Lakers guard Bronny James dunks against the Thunder on Tuesday night at Crypto.com Arena.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Hachimura responded to his early benching to lead the Lakers (50-29) with 15 points and five rebounds. Luke Kennard had 10 points and nine assists while continuing to handle emergency point guard duties. Deandre Ayton, the only regular starter remaining, had just three points and three rebounds.
The starting center had just 11 points and four rebounds in the last two games against the Thunder. He was an energetic force during the Lakers’ hot streak in March, but has inexplicably “had trouble catching the ball,” Redick said.
Ayton left the locker room singing The Five Stairsteps’ “O-o-h Child.”
“Things are going to get easier,” the 7-foot center crooned.
The Lakers have three regular-season games remaining, beginning with games at Golden State on Thursday and home against Phoenix on Friday. Smart could return this week, Redick said. The right ankle contusion Smart sustained against Orlando more than two weeks ago has lingered longer than expected.
UCLA’s NCAA championship-winning women’s basketball team is honored during the Lakers-Thunder game at Crypto.com Arena on Tuesday.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
One game behind third-place Denver, the Lakers are only a half-game ahead of fifth-place Houston, which won its sixth consecutive game Tuesday. Before the Lakers received confirmation of the severity of Reaves’ injury Saturday, Redick said the team’s mission of hanging onto the third seed remained unchanged despite Doncic’s hamstring injury.
Redick recalibrated expectations Tuesday.
“The seeding part probably went out the window after the OKC game,” Redick said.
With playing time up for grabs, rookie Adou Thiero showed promise in 21 minutes. Bumping up against a minutes restriction after battling knee injuries this season, the 21-year-old brought a bolt of energy off the bench early, skying over 7-foot center Isaiah Hartenstein for a rebound in the first quarter that led to an extra Lakers possession and free throws for Thiero.
The former second-round pick finished with 10 points and four rebounds, despite having to leave in the second quarter after taking a hard elbow to the forehead. He immediately went to the locker room holding a towel to his face and returned in the third quarter with a white bandage between his eyes.
Eight stitches in his forehead didn’t hold him back on a two-handed dunk late in the third quarter.
“JJ’s been preaching ‘next man up’ the whole season,” Thiero said. “So just kind of looking at it like that as an opportunity. Guys are down, trying to go out and see what I’m made of against the defending champs.”
The shorthanded Lakers knocked the league-leading Thunder back early. Drew Timme, who finished with 11 points in just his third NBA start and first for the Lakers, had a team-high 10 points in the first half, making all four of his shots. The 6-foot-10 former Gonzaga star was drawing full-court pressure from Oklahoma City’s top defender Luguentz Dort as the Lakers stayed competitive for the first quarter and a half. Kennard’s acrobatic, twisting layup with 7:26 remaining in the second quarter tied the score 42-42.
The Thunder (63-16) answered with a 23-5 run to finish the half.
“They’re the defending champs for a reason,” Kennard said, “and they play the right way always.”