Jake LaRavia Breaks Down What the Lakers Must Do To Beat Thunder

The Los Angeles Lakers just got past the Houston Rockets, but Round 2 is a completely different animal. The Oklahoma City Thunder are the defending champions, and Los Angeles went 0-4 against them in the regular season. Nobody on the roster knows that record better than Jake LaRavia.

LaRavia was the only Laker to play all 82 games this season, meaning he was on the floor for every single one of those four losses. Going into Round 2 without Luka Doncic, who is out with a Grade 2 hamstring strain, only makes the challenge bigger.

Orange County Register reporter Benjamin Royer captured him on X speaking about what that 0-4 record actually taught the team, and what it will take to flip the script in the playoffs.

When asked to compare OKC to the great Bulls and Warriors dynasties, LaRavia did not shy away from acknowledging just how good the Thunder are.

"The Thunder team? Very talented, entire roster. I feel like there was a couple, a lot of times during the season they had guys in and out of the rotation. They just have a lot of players that can come in and just build room for them. Obviously, they're very physical. Defensively, they just play very well on ball, off ball, collectively. They've got a lot of talented pieces, so they'll be a big boost."

Lakers’ Jake LaRavia on facing the defending-champion OKC Thunder, and their four losses in the regular season:

“I feel like it was the same result pretty much every time we played 'em, so it'll just really come down to being able to protect the ball against their physicality.” pic.twitter.com/wWJ5Ow8OeW
— Benjamin Royer (@thebenroyer) May 3, 2026

Jake LaRavia on What the Lakers Must Fix Against OKC

That respect came with an honest look at why those four games went the way they did. In one November matchup alone, LA had 11 turnovers by halftime while OKC had just one. LaRavia tied it all back to one thing.

"I feel like it was the same result pretty much every time we played 'em, so it'll just really come down to being able to protect the ball against their physicality. Being able to execute when they're going on runs or when anything's happening like that. Just focusing on Shai, obviously, being the head of the snake and trying to make everything uncomfortable for him out there."

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander averaged 31.3 points this regular season, so that last part is the hardest ask of all. But at least LaRavia and the Lakers know what they are walking into.

Game 1 tips off on May 5, with the Thunder as heavy favorites. Whether Los Angeles can actually apply what they learned from those four regular season beatdowns is the only question that matters now.

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