Why the Lakers’ One Positive Takeaway From Game 1 Loss Is Actually a Bad Sign

There weren’t many positives to take away from the Lakers’ Game 1 loss to the Thunder. In losing to Oklahoma City, 108–90, Los Angeles saw Austin Reaves shoot 3-for-16 from the floor; his backcourt teammates in Marcus Smart and Luke Kennard combined to make five shots. Chet Holmgren owned the paint with 24 points and 12 rebounds while thoroughly outplaying Deandre Ayton, who was coming off the best stretch of games we’ve seen out of him in a Lakers uniform. LeBron James did what he could but despite his 27-point night the purple and gold are now down 1–0 to the defending champs.

It made for plenty of confirmation that Los Angeles can’t hang in this series without Luka Dončić, something James himself pointed to. But to some, there was one genuine positive to consider from Game 1 that should inspire the Lakers to believe they have hope—an excellent defensive performance against Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

The reigning MVP is one of the very best scorers in the NBA and by far the most consistent; he broke a Wilt Chamberlain record for most consecutive 20-point regular season games earlier this year if you need proof of that concept. But coach JJ Redick cooked up a tremendous scheme to contain him in Game 1. Gilgeous-Alexander was not comfortable at any point as the Lakers sent timely double-teams at him possession after possession and swarmed him once he moved into the paint. It made him indecisive and hesitant. What’s more, there were no easy buckets to be had with the L.A. defense completely selling out to ensure he always had a man glued to him no matter who it was.

The scheme was extremely well executed across the board, and it worked pretty much to perfection. SGA managed only 18 points on 8-for-15 shooting and only went to the line twice for three free throws total. The Lakers kept as close to him as possible while avoiding the flailing fouls he’s become notorious for drawing, a very tricky combination but one that proved mighty effective when they hit the right notes.

They shut him down to a degree we haven’t seen in, quite literally, almost a year. The last time Gilgeous-Alexander failed to score 20 points was May 24, 2025 against the Timberwolves in the Western Conference finals; he finished with 14 that night. In every single game since, from the Finals to the first round of the ‘26 playoffs, Gilgeous-Alexander put at least 20 points up on the scoreboard.

That stat should astound us all in regards to his aforementioned legendary consistency. But it’s also being wielded as a reason for optimism for the Lakers. Yes, they lost by 18, but they kept SGA well in check to a degree we haven’t seen any other defense do in 12 months. Isn’t that something for Los Angeles to hang their hat on even while facing overwhelming odds to upset the reigning champions without Dončić?

No. It’s actually a bad sign for Los Angeles’s chances in this series.

Why Gilgeous-Alexander’s poor Game 1 doesn’t bode well for Lakers moving forward

Shai Gilgeous-Alexande — SGA has shown a tendency to bounce back strongly after difficult performances. | Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images

The logic behind that isn’t complicated—SGA scored 18 points and the Thunder still won. Comfortably.

Holmgren paced OKC with 24 points and eight other Thunder players got on the scoreboard. There wasn’t anything unusual in those statlines, either. Holmgren racked up all but six of his points inside the arc without much resistance. Ajay Mitchell chipped in 18 points as the fifth starter with Jalen Williams still out, which is pretty much exactly in line with his production in the starting lineup this season. The only “aberration” might’ve been Jared McCain going 4-of-5 from three but those makes largely came with the game out of reach.

All that is to say: what we saw out of Oklahoma City on Tuesday night was mostly repeatable. Sustainable. But keeping SGA to fewer than 20 points? That doesn’t qualify. The defense on the MVP was definitely high-caliber and it forced him into mistakes he wouldn’t make most of the time. That is the mark of a quality scheme. But some shots he just ... missed.

In the first quarter SGA slipped while driving with a wide-open lane to the rim, creating a slapstick comedy-esque lowlight. He missed two easy looks in the third that you’d bet on him converting 90% of the time. And his string of misses in the fourth quarter, in which SGA clanked three jumpers in 45 seconds, all came with a few feet of space created from his patented stepback move; he just missed them. If the goal was to stop Gilgeous-Alexander from getting to his spots, they failed, even if the end result worked to Los Angeles’s favor.

That’s something Redick appeared to recognize the day after the loss.

JJ Redick says the tape from Game 1 showed that the Lakers’ defense “was good with some of the Shai [Gilgeous-Alexander] coverages.”
What wasn’t good?
“We have to be better when [SGA’s] not on the floor … they were plus-nine in those minutes. We’ve got to at least be even” pic.twitter.com/uQrGoqoycR
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) May 6, 2026

“I think there’s some stuff that we did that was good with some of the Shai coverages,” Redick said to reporters on Wednesday. “I think there’s some stuff within that that we did not do well, that we need to create better clarity for our guys (for).”

To believe this was a sign of good things to come for the Lakers means there’s a belief that the defense kept him in check, rather than forcing him into an off night. There’s a big gap between those attributes. And if it’s just an off night, as the tape would suggest, then we can expect Gilgeous-Alexander to bounce back in a big way based on his regular season habits.

The MVP candidate famously never scored below 20 points in 68 games for OKC this season. But he did hit exactly 20 in five games, one of which was his final game of the year. But after being held to 20 points on the other four occasions, he averaged 36.6 points the following night. Whenever SGA was held in check, he made up for it immediately.

That should make the Lakers very nervous. Their defense was good but not perfect. Based on Gilgeous-Alexander’s prolific scoring history, Game 1 might be the best Los Angeles will do on the defensive end. And given it still led to a double-digit loss ... you can see why there should be hesitation to proclaim his limited production as a resounding win for the purple and gold.

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