{"id":1927727,"date":"2026-05-10T10:00:32","date_gmt":"2026-05-10T07:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1927727"},"modified":"2026-05-10T10:00:32","modified_gmt":"2026-05-10T07:00:32","slug":"is-lakers-coach-jj-redick-out-of-answers-against-thunder-weve-got-to-be-better","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1927727","title":{"rendered":"Is Lakers coach JJ Redick out of answers against Thunder? \u2018We\u2019ve got to be better\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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LOS ANGELES \u2014 JJ Redick doesn\u2019t have many answers for what he has seen so far in a lopsided Western Conference semifinals series against the Oklahoma City Thunder. One of the few he did offer after a 131-108 loss<\/a> in Game 3 on Saturday spoke volumes about the Thunder\u2019s domination over his team, a stretch in which the Lakers have lost three consecutive playoff games by 15 points or more for the first time in their history.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThey\u2019ve kicked our ass three straight games,\u201d Redick said. \u201cThey\u2019re an incredible basketball team.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Redick offered what context he could, but the look on his face said almost as much as the words coming out of his mouth. The 41-year-old basketball lifer wore a look of frustration tinged with resignation. It\u2019s the same look veteran guard Luke Kennard had as he spoke at the podium a few minutes later.<\/p>\n

For the third game in a row, the Thunder hit another level the Lakers couldn\u2019t match.<\/p>\n

Playing without star guard Luka Don\u010di\u0107, the Lakers have done their best to hang with the defending champion Thunder, but further proof of the vast difference in talent between the teams came after the Lakers walked into halftime with a 59-57 lead. They proceeded to get outscored by 25 points in the second half.<\/p>\n

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For the series, the Thunder have outscored the Lakers by a combined 54 points.<\/p>\n

\u201cThird straight game, we\u2019re right there after 2 1\/2 quarters,\u201d Redick said, in a message he noted was also relayed to the team. \u201cWe tried different lineups, different coverages. Still lost those minutes again.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe\u2019ve got to be better, but I\u2019m not giving up on this series, and we\u2019re gonna go try to win on Monday. We\u2019re gonna try to extend the series, and we\u2019re gonna try to take this thing back to OKC.\u201d<\/p>\n

Redick can maintain a level of optimism publicly, but what else is he supposed to say?<\/p>\n

For the third straight game, the Lakers were outclassed. In a previous basketball life, maybe LeBron James could have closed the talent gap between the teams, but not at age 41. He made just 7-for-19 from the field and couldn\u2019t find the extra bounce in the second half when he needed it. Austin Reaves was just 5-for-13, also unable to stop the tide in the second half.<\/p>\n

James sees the problems everyone else does. When asked about adjustments the Lakers tried and how the Thunder adapted, he knew the difference showed up again in the final 24 minutes.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe third quarter. We\u2019ll start with that,\u201d James said. \u201cWe didn\u2019t have the energy, the effort, and they put a 30-plus-point quarter on us and kind of took care of the game right there, honestly. We had moments, obviously, in the first half that were really good for us. We did a good job of sharing the ball and knocking down shots. That third quarter, we didn\u2019t knock down shots, we didn\u2019t defend \u2014 or get stops, I would say. We did defend, but we didn\u2019t get stops, and it allowed them to kind of take control of the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Thunder, who are now 7-0 this postseason, have all the control and show no signs of slowing down. Ajay Mitchell had 24 points and offered the latest reminder of just how deep the Thunder roster can go. The Lakers don\u2019t have that type of depth or talent. All they have left is pride in trying not to get swept Monday night.<\/p>\n

Redick has tried what he can to come up with different answers, but he knows the truth: The Lakers simply can\u2019t measure up to a Thunder team that has a championship pedigree and is playing with something to prove.<\/p>\n

\u201cTypically, if you can poke holes in a playoff series, there\u2019s a good chance they might have a temporary solution or can sort of adjust maybe a little bit,\u201d Redick said. \u201cThis team in-game, because of their personnel, can just adjust like that. They need shooting on the floor? Great. They need multiple wing defenders on the floor? Great. They need two bigs on the floor? Great. It\u2019s just \u2026 they\u2019re a terrific basketball team. I said that before the series. I\u2019ve been very impressed with them.<\/p>\n

\u201cI still think we can beat them, but we got to be better.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LOS ANGELES \u2014 JJ Redick doesn\u2019t have many answers for what he has seen so far in a lopsided Western Conference semifinals series against the Oklahoma City Thunder. One of the few he did offer after a 131-108 loss in Game 3 on Saturday spoke volumes about the Thunder\u2019s domination over his team, a stretch […]<\/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-1927727","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\/1927727","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=1927727"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1927727\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1927727"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1927727"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1927727"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}