Lakers News: In "Must-Win" Thunder Matchup To End 4-Game Skid, LA Has Key Edge

Following your Los Angeles Lakers fourth consecutive loss Thursday, this time a 118-111 defeat against the Minnesota Timberwolves that does include three built-in excuses (it was the second game of a back-to-back pair for the Lakers, it was in hostile territory, and LeBron James was out), star center Anthony Davis remained surprisingly confident that LA could right the ship.

"I think overall our effort was there tonight.. It sucks to lose. No moral victories, no one is going to feel sorry for us. We're not feeling sorry for ourselves, just gotta figure it out." Anthony Davis on the Lakers fourth straight loss. pic.twitter.com/dZqhr6QyZO
— Spectrum SportsNet (@SpectrumSN) December 22, 2023

“I think the effort was there,” Davis said (hat tip to Dan Woike of The Los Angeles Times for the transcription). “It sucks to lose, obviously, four in a row. It’s tough. You want to get back in the win column. … But I think overall our effort was there tonight. We played like we were trying to win. We played a little more together, a little more confident. But it sucks to lose. No moral victories.”

Davis at least more or less did his part against Minnesota's three-headed front line monster of Rudy Gobert, Karl-Anthony Towns and Naz Reid. The 6'10" Kentucky product scored 31 points on 11-of-20 shooting from the floor and 8-of-9 shooting from the foul line, pulled down eight rebounds, and dished out four dimes.

Per Jovan Buha of The Athletic, Davis considers tomorrow's matchup against the Oklahoma City Thunder, the second seed in the West overall, a "must-win" contest.

Although it sure seems like the veteran-laden, weary Lakers (now 15-14) and the young and hungry Thunder (18-8) currently have two disparate trajectories that would give OKC the edge, LA's strength does happen to be the Thunder's weakness: size.

Outside of 2024 Rookie of the Year favorite Chet Holmgren, who himself is a string bean at 7'1" and just 195 pounds, the Thunder lack much in the way of legitimate frontcourt pieces who can match the sheer height and girth of Los Angeles' bigs.

6'5" forward Jalen Williams (not to be confused with his much less-used teammate, 6'9" reserve big Jaylin Williams) is the Thunder's starting four. The Lakers have five rotation players who stand 6'8" or taller (six if you count Jaxson Hayes, though he's been feeling the lineup squeeze with Gabe Vincent back), the Thunder just three, and of that triumvirate, only the backup Jaylin Williams has the bulk to (theoretically) move some Lakers off the block.