Head coach JJ Redick knew that it would not be exactly sailing for Los Angeles Lakers after the team’s blockbuster February 2 to acquire Luka Doncic.
Redick and Lakers will have another chance to work with the process when Los Angeles visits Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday for the first of consecutive games between the teams.
“I don’t think expectations, at least internally for us, were that we will be 2016-17 Warriors or this year’s Oklahoma City Thunder. We didn’t expect it,” Redick said that his team is outscored when Doncic, Lebron James and Austin Reves are at the court at the same time. “So the incoherent trade during the season is there.”
However, the Lakers seem to be heading in the right direction, but won three of their last four. Sunday’s game is the beginning of a challenging test to close the regular season with Los Angeles, which plays four of the last five matches on the road.
Lakers (47-30) come from a 124-108 home victory over New Orleans Pelicans, where the Doncic-James trio combined for 92 points. Doncic led the road with 35 points and Reaves had 30 with six 3 points.
“Those guys, I think, are committed to getting it to work with each other when on the track,” Redick said. “… they are undertaken to make it work when there are two of them on court or one of them are on court. It is an ongoing work. We all knew that would be the case.”
The cohesion figures to be tested by the thunderstorm.
While Pelicans are almost-to-list in the NBA in defensive rating of 118.8, Oklahoma City (64-13) leads the league of 106.2.
“We will have three massive tests, come home and have another massive test and then play a really tough Portland team,” said Redick, whose team also visits Dallas and Portland in the future. “So if our spirit is right, I can live with the result. And I’m pretty sure the results will be more good than bad.”
While Thunder’s status as top seed at the Western conference is safe with five matches left in the regular season, Lakers still fight for position.
Los Angeles entered Saturday’s game half a match before Denver Nuggets for third place in the west and 3 1/2 matches behind Houston Rockets for No. 2 seed.
Thunder comes from Friday’s loss 125-111 in Houston, who snapped his winning line in 11 matches and finished his chance to become the third team in the NBA story to win 70 or more matches during one season.
“I think you can learn much more from a loss,” said Oklahoma City’s Jalen Williams. “I think (with) winning, the sensation gets a little stunned to the point where you take a lot of things for granted. When you lose, you start thinking about all the things that actually go into winning a game.”
Oklahoma City star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has not been as effective in the last two games, shot 41.7 percent from the field and 23.1 percent from 3-point intervals in Wednesday’s victory over Detroit Pistons and Friday’s loss to the rockets.
Gilgeous-Alexander shoots 51.9 percent in total and 37.1 percent on 3-score this season. He also leads the NBA with 32.6 points per match.
In the only other meeting with Lakers this season, a 101-93 Thunder victory got on November 29 in Los Angeles, Gilgeous-Alexander received 36.
-Field level media
