Oklahoma City Thunder not taking the Los Angeles Lakers for granted ahead of Game 1 in NBA play-offs

Oklahoma City – The Oklahoma City Thunder blew out the Los Angeles Lakers twice in the final two weeks of the National Basketball Association (NBA) regular season.

They won those two games by an average of 39.5 points per game.

But heading into Game 1 of their Western Conference semi-final series on May 5 (May 6, Singapore time) in Oklahoma City, they are not looking past the Lakers.

“They’re playing really well right now, regardless of who’s out there,” Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander said.

“They’re well-coached. LeBron (James) has been in this situation, in this level of games, more than anybody in the history of the NBA, so we don’t take them lightly.”

James averaged 23.2 points, 8.3 assists, 7.2 rebounds and 1.3 steals per game in Los Angeles’ 4-2 series win over the Houston Rockets in the first round.

Lakers stars Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves were injured in the first of those two late-season losses to Oklahoma City, during the Thunder’s 43-point win on April 2.

Reaves returned for the final two games of the first-round series, while Doncic has yet to return from a hamstring injury. The Slovenian will remain out for Game 1.

Oklahoma City swept the four regular-season meetings between the teams, with only one game being a single-digit victory.

“They’re really good at runs and part of that is how good their defence is, their ability to create turnovers, the live-ball turnovers really kill you,” Lakers coach J.J. Redick said.

“They don’t get out into transition a ton but when they do, they’re the best in the NBA.”

He said the Thunder’s success in that department could change his approach to calling timeouts.

“I’ve got to be more diligent than I normally am,” Redick said. “I like my timeouts. I like going into the fourth quarter with four timeouts, I like having two in the last 30 seconds.

“I don’t think you have the luxury of worrying about that because the game can get away from you so quick because of how explosive they are when they go on those runs...

“It’s what they do, so mitigating the 12- to 15-point runs I think is really important.”

But while Redick said the challenge of facing the Thunder was much different than facing the Rockets, there was plenty that he felt could carry over, including “belief, attention to detail and poise”.

While the Lakers have not had much time off, wrapping up their series on May 1 with a win at Houston, Oklahoma City have not played since finishing up a first-round sweep over the Phoenix Suns on April 27.

The Suns tried to turn up the tempo at times against the Thunder, whose coach Mark Daigneault said there were ups and downs to that, noting that his team needed to have more of a sense of urgency getting back defensively.

“But the other thing it does is it loosens the game up in a way that benefits us offensively,” he said. “There’s trade-offs to everything.”

The Thunder remain without Jalen Williams, who is continuing to recover from a hamstring injury he had in Game 2 of the series against the Suns.

The series between Oklahoma City and Los Angeles is the first between the teams since the second round of the 2012 play-offs.

In the opening round of conference semi-finals on May 4, Julius Randle scored 21 points and Anthony Edwards came off the bench to hit for 18 points, as the visiting Minnesota Timberwolves outlasted the San Antonio Spurs 104-102 in Game 1 in the West.

The Timberwolves were boosted by the return of Edwards, who sustained a bone bruise in his left knee on April 25 that was supposed to keep him out for multiple weeks.

Newly crowned NBA Defensive Player of the Year Victor Wembanyama muscled his way to 12 blocks – a record in a post-season game – but it was not enough to thwart a resilient performance from sixth-seeded Minnesota.

In the Eastern Conference, Jalen Brunson scored 27 of his game-high 35 points in the first half for the New York Knicks, who remained red-hot by routing the visiting Philadelphia 76ers 137-98 in Game 1.

Off the court, Jamahl Mosley was fired as coach of the Orlando Magic on May 4, hours after the team were eliminated from the play-offs with a blowout loss at the Detroit Pistons. REUTERS, AFP