There weren’t many positives to take away from the Lakers’ Game 1 loss to the Thunder. In losing to Oklahoma City, 108–90, Los Angeles saw Austin Reaves shoot 3-for-16 from the floor; his backcourt teammates in Marcus Smart and Luke Kennard combined to make five shots. Chet Holmgren owned the paint with 24 points and 12 rebounds while thoroughly outplaying Deandre Ayton, who was coming off the best stretch of games we’ve seen out of him in a Lakers uniform. LeBron James did what he could but despite his 27-point night the purple and gold are now down 1–0 to the defending champs.
It made for plenty of confirmation that Los Angeles can’t hang in this series without Luka Dončić, something James himself pointed to. But to some, there was one genuine positive to consider from Game 1 that should inspire the Lakers to believe they have hope—an excellent defensive performance against Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
