In their first three games against the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference semifinals, the Los Angeles Lakers haven’t just been beaten in each game. They have been slaughtered.
They were competitive for decent stretches of all three contests, especially Game 2 and Game 3, but the Thunder have dominated the second halves of each contest. As a result, the Lakers are on the verge of getting swept, and few people believe LeBron James and crew will win even one game.
Without Luka Doncic, the Lakers don’t have the horses to sufficiently compete with the defending NBA champions. But most seem to agree that even if the Purple and Gold were fully healthy, they would still end up losing to the Thunder.
Former NBA player and current ESPN personality Kendrick Perkins said after L.A.’s 131-108 loss on Saturday that the team is simply overmatched (h/t ClutchPoints).
“They’re laughing at the Lakers,” Perkins said of the Thunder. “They were laughing at them when they had their fellowship moment after Game 2 in Oklahoma City with the officials. Look, the Lakers just don’t stand a chance. They don’t match up to the champs. They’re full of two-way guys.”
Perkins pointed out the superior depth and athleticism of Oklahoma City, and he also said that, not only does he expect a sweep, but that L.A. is simply not athletic enough to get the job done. The former big man also singled out one player in particular.
“… This series is over. You saw LeBron James’ body language. He can kill this, and he’s trying not to stretch himself out. There’s no way in hell they’re trying to get back on their plane and go back for a Game 5 in Oklahoma City.
“… What happened was they got exposed, right? They got exposed from a personnel standpoint,” Perkins added. “It showed that the Lakers are just not athletic enough to keep up with these top dogs in the league, especially Austin Reaves. He was picked on time and time again defensively.
“And here’s the bigger question that the Lakers gotta ask themselves: Next year, in the near future, whenever, is Austin Reaves going to be part of your franchise where he’s going to be a cornerstone paired with Luka Doncic that you believe that could be able to compete and have a legit shot of coming out of the West and bring back home a championship.”
The doubt seems to be growing that Reaves is going to be able to be part of a championship puzzle for Los Angeles. While he averaged 23.3 points on 49% field-goal shooting and 36% from 3-point range during the regular season, he’s down to 18.6 points on 38.7% overall shooting and 21.4% from downtown in five playoff games this year. On Saturday, Reaves was 5-of-13 from the field, and he seems to be further entrenching an annual trend of underperforming in the playoffs relative to his regular-season production.
His lack of individual defense and footspeed is well-documented, and as a team, the Lakers are relatively slow and unathletic on both ends of the floor.
Whether they get swept or lose this series in five games, the roster they go to training camp with at the end of this summer could look a lot different from the one they have right now. The question is whether general manager Rob Pelinka will make moves that make sense, or if he will fixate too much on big names at the expense of practical roster-building.
This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: Kendrick Perkins: Lakers, Austin Reaves, have been exposed by Thunder
Reporting by Robert Marvi, LeBron Wire / LeBron Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
