{"id":1863102,"date":"2026-04-03T06:16:04","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T03:16:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1863102"},"modified":"2026-04-03T06:16:04","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T03:16:04","slug":"a-blowout-loss-was-bad-what-happened-to-luka-doncic-and-the-lakers-was-worse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1863102","title":{"rendered":"A blowout loss was bad. What happened to Luka Don\u010di\u0107 and the Lakers was worse"},"content":{"rendered":"
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OKLAHOMA CITY \u2014 There wasn\u2019t much said to Luka Don\u010di\u0107 as he limped out of the locker room late Thursday night. There wasn\u2019t much, frankly, to say.<\/p>\n

The Los Angeles Lakers, facing their biggest test since they announced themselves as serious contenders with a 15-2 March record, had completely blown it. This wasn\u2019t just them getting a missed assignment here or there wrong. This was the Thunder snapping the Lakers\u2019 pencil before they could even start the test.<\/p>\n

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Had Don\u010di\u0107 not limped out in the 139-96 loss<\/a>, had he merely walked out of the Thunder\u2019s arena humbled and humiliated, there would be a different story to tell. Sure, the morning debate shows would have cooked the Lakers, and rightfully so. Contenders don\u2019t lose big games like this, trailing by 23 in the first quarter, by 35 in the second, 45 in the third and 46 in the fourth. Right?<\/p>\n

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But that kind of reaction doesn\u2019t allow for nuance \u2014 the kind that remembers the Lakers punishing the Thunder in this building last April, when Don\u010di\u0107 and the Lakers turned this building into a 27-point laugher after leading by 22 at the half.<\/p>\n

That triumph didn\u2019t define the Lakers\u2019 season \u2014 they were out in the first round in five. And it sure didn\u2019t define the Thunder\u2019s, the championship banner hanging in their arena proof that a late-season blowout loss is no reason to write the obituary.<\/p>\n

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Too many turnovers. Too many missed shots. Too little early-game intensity could conceivably be corrected. But because Don\u010di\u0107 limped out, the Lakers left with bigger problems than a lousy 48-minute performance.<\/p>\n

If everything didn\u2019t change in the third quarter Thursday when Don\u010di\u0107 fell to the ground, everything at least got scarier with the door rapidly shutting on their regular season. After grabbing at his hamstring late in the first half, Don\u010di\u0107 tossed the ball out of bounds, felt some kind of pain in the back of his left leg and quickly crumpled to the floor, covering his face in frustration before hobbling to the back. His night over, and perhaps his MVP campaign too.<\/p>\n

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Afterward, LeBron James and Austin Reaves said the right things about what comes next.<\/p>\n

\u201cLosing always sucks. It doesn\u2019t matter if you lose by one or 50, a loss is a loss,\u201d Reaves said.<\/p>\n

\u201cNothing has changed. We still will be (together),\u201d James said. \u201cObviously, we\u2019ll be tested. \u2026 We\u2019ll make no conclusions, but we\u2019ll see what happens with him. And then we\u2019ll go from there. But nothing is rattled. It\u2019s one game, it\u2019s part of the NBA season, it\u2019s the defending champions. We get it. We understand.\u201d<\/p>\n

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But inside the locker room was an unspoken understanding that things could be grim even if they mostly put on a brave face as the momentum they\u2019ve built is in peril.<\/p>\n

Because Don\u010di\u0107 didn\u2019t walk out. He limped.<\/p>\n

And on Friday, he\u2019ll undergo an MRI that will begin to clarify a timeframe for his return. Without him, the Lakers will limp into their final five games of the regular season, and most importantly, into the playoffs.<\/p>\n

Reaves added a new injury of his own Thursday. After overextending for a loose ball during the first quarter, he immediately grabbed his left side and went to the locker room for treatment, and returned in the second quarter. And whenever he strained to make a play, whether it be a full-court pass, a 3-point shot or even some lateral defensive movement, his left hand reached for his back.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll see,\u201d Reaves said.<\/p>\n

Already dealing with a wrist injury and a lengthening list of lower-body issues, Reaves may not be the most logical option to pick up a larger load should Don\u010di\u0107 miss extended time. Both he and Don\u010di\u0107 received treatment, and were cleared to play, according to coach JJ Redick.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, it was discussed at halftime,\u201d Redick said of potentially shutting Reaves down. \u201cThought we\u2019d give those guys about six minutes, and then we were gonna, if we didn\u2019t cut in the lead, we were gonna pull them.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Lakers\u2019 healthiest option, perhaps, might be the 41-year-old James. But he has settled into a complementary role and would need to make a pretty significant physical and stylistic shift to replace Don\u010di\u0107 as the head of the offense.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt this point, at this juncture of the season, it\u2019s the last thing you want to see,\u201d James said of Don\u010di\u0107\u2019s injury. \u201cEspecially anybody on our team, but when you have an MVP candidate on your team, the last thing you want to see is somebody go down with a hamstring injury.\u201d<\/p>\n

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While the Lakers have assured themselves a top-six seed in the Western Conference, homecourt advantage in the first round is still in play. Luckily for the Lakers, they\u2019ve already secured tiebreakers against their pursuers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s never a time to get comfortable in this league. The only thing we do know is that we won\u2019t be in the Play-In, so we have that week. But health is wealth,\u201d James said. \u201cObviously, we\u2019re already without Marcus (Smart, ankle) right now and now Luka. We don\u2019t know what the timetable is, but obviously, we\u2019ll see. We\u2019ll see what happens.\u201d<\/p>\n

We know, for sure, what didn\u2019t happen on Thursday: The Lakers didn\u2019t assuage any doubts people might\u2019ve had about the legitimacy of their contendership. They didn\u2019t, as staffers had privately hoped, vault Don\u010di\u0107 further up the MVP ballots. And they didn\u2019t exit the court with clear minds about the future.<\/p>\n

For the first time in more than a month, the Lakers don\u2019t know what comes next.<\/p>\n

And that uncertainty is worse than any margin on the scoreboard.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

OKLAHOMA CITY \u2014 There wasn\u2019t much said to Luka Don\u010di\u0107 as he limped out of the locker room late Thursday night. There wasn\u2019t much, frankly, to say. The Los Angeles Lakers, facing their biggest test since they announced themselves as serious contenders with a 15-2 March record, had completely blown it. This wasn\u2019t just them […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,241],"class_list":["post-1863102","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-nytimes-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1863102","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1863102"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1863102\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1863102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1863102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1863102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}