{"id":571598,"date":"2026-04-08T10:40:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T10:40:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/571598\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T10:40:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T10:40:13","slug":"with-lakers-big-3-sidelined-l-a-loses-in-blowout-to-thunder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/571598\/","title":{"rendered":"With Lakers’ Big 3 sidelined, L.A. loses in blowout to Thunder"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

No Big Three. No surprise.<\/p>\n

Without 80% of their starting lineup, the Lakers<\/a>, predictably, got crushed by the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday, losing 123-87<\/a> to drop their third consecutive game and fall one game out of third place in the Western Conference.<\/p>\n

Already without Luka Doncic<\/a> (hamstring) and Austin Reaves<\/a> (oblique) for the rest of the regular season, the Lakers had to dig deep in their bench when LeBron James<\/a> (left foot injury management) and Jaxson Hayes<\/a> (left foot soreness) were ruled out.<\/p>\n

With Marcus Smart<\/a> (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\u2019t inspire confidence early. <\/p>\n

Lakers coach JJ Redick<\/a> called a timeout less than three minutes into the game and benched Rui Hachimura<\/a> for a missed assignment. Sixteen seconds into the second quarter, Redick called another timeout to remove Jarred Vanderbilt<\/a>. 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. <\/p>\n

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\u2019re now in survival mode. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got to find nine guys that are, like, all-in on us fighting,\u201d Redick said. \u201cWhatever you got to do to go out and fight and be all-in on the team, we\u2019ll find the nine guys. It\u2019s a great opportunity for us, over the next three games, to find those guys.\u201d <\/p>\n

Of the exchange with Vanderbilt, Redick said it was \u201cnothing personal with him. Normal stuff from my end\u201d and that a \u201cconfluence of events\u201d led to the substitution. Vanderbilt, who had three points with two rebounds and didn\u2019t return to the game after the dust-up, left the arena without speaking to reporters. <\/p>\n

\"Lakers <\/p>\n

Lakers guard Bronny James dunks against the Thunder on Tuesday night at Crypto.com Arena.<\/p>\n

(Robert Gauthier \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

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<\/a>, the only regular starter remaining, had just three points and three rebounds. <\/p>\n

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\u2019 hot streak in March, but has inexplicably \u201chad trouble catching the ball,\u201d Redick said. <\/p>\n

Ayton left the locker room singing The Five Stairsteps\u2019 \u201cO-o-h Child<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThings are going to get easier,\u201d the 7-foot center crooned. <\/p>\n

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. <\/p>\n

\"UCLA's <\/p>\n

UCLA\u2019s NCAA championship-winning women\u2019s basketball team is honored during the Lakers-Thunder game at Crypto.com Arena on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

(Robert Gauthier \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

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\u2019 injury Saturday, Redick said the team\u2019s mission of hanging onto the third seed remained unchanged despite Doncic\u2019s hamstring injury.<\/p>\n

Redick recalibrated expectations Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe seeding part probably went out the window after the OKC game,\u201d Redick said.<\/p>\n

With playing time up for grabs, rookie Adou Thiero<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Eight stitches in his forehead didn\u2019t hold him back on a two-handed dunk late in the third quarter.<\/p>\n

\u201cJJ\u2019s been preaching \u2018next man up\u2019 the whole season,\u201d Thiero said. \u201cSo just kind of looking at it like that as an opportunity. Guys are down, trying to go out and see what I\u2019m made of against the defending champs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

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\u2019s top defender Luguentz Dort as the Lakers stayed competitive for the first quarter and a half. Kennard\u2019s acrobatic, twisting layup with 7:26 remaining in the second quarter tied the score 42-42.<\/p>\n

The Thunder (63-16) answered with a 23-5 run to finish the half.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re the defending champs for a reason,\u201d Kennard said, \u201cand they play the right way always.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"No Big Three. No surprise. Without 80% of their starting lineup, the Lakers, predictably, got crushed by the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":571599,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[11654,251858,15635,5460,3265,8304,6306,3013,3014,355,14763,13544,5190,251859,99,46491,16597],"class_list":{"0":"post-571598","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-austin-reaves","9":"tag-eighth-consecutive-game","10":"tag-field","11":"tag-game","12":"tag-grade","13":"tag-james","14":"tag-lakers","15":"tag-lebron-james","16":"tag-luka-doncic","17":"tag-nba","18":"tag-playoff","19":"tag-point","20":"tag-season","21":"tag-shot-attempt","22":"tag-sports","23":"tag-thunder","24":"tag-thursday"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/571598","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=571598"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/571598\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/571599"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=571598"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=571598"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=571598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}