Three Takeaways from the OKC Thunder's Loss to the Los Angeles Lakers
Despite being one of the most inconsistent teams in the NBA, the Los Angeles Lakers are 2-0 against the Oklahoma City Thunder over the past month.
On Dec. 29, the Lakers took down OKC 129-120 on its home court, defeating Mark Daigneault's team again on Jan. 15 in Los Angeles.
After a solid stretch of play, the loss is Oklahoma City's fourth in the past month, making the Lakers one of just three teams to defeat the Thunder since Dec. 16.
Here are three takeaways from OKC's 112-105 loss to LeBron James and the Lakers.
Oklahoma City's bench continues to struggle
Against Los Angeles on Monday night, six players earned minutes off of the bench for the Thunder, combining for a total of 28 points. The Lakers played just three players from their bench and were still able to produce the same point total.
Vasilije Micic was Oklahoma City's leading scorer off the bench, tallying six points.
Of the six players who logged minutes off the bench, no player made more than two field goal attempts. As a group, the Thunder's bench went 11-of-33 and finished with a -8 plus/minus.
OKC's bench has underperformed for the past few games, pitching in just 20 points between six players in the team's 112-100 victory over the Magic on Saturday night.
After a solid rookie season in 2022-23, backup big man Jaylin Williams has underperformed this year, averaging just 3.5 points and 3.1 rebounds per game while shooting 38% from the field.
For the most part, Isaiah Joe has been the Thunder's best option off of the bench. When the 3-point specialist has an off night, however, the rest of OKC's bench unit struggles to pick up the slack.
Against the Lakers on Monday, Joe shot 2-of-10 from the field.
Oklahoma City's offense still revolves around 3-point shooting
The Thunder have created a five-out spacing on offense that creates plenty of drive and kick opportunities for their skilled guards.
With players like Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams and Josh Giddey who frequently drive to the rim, there are plenty of open looks for players like Chet Holmgren, Lu Dort and Joe when opposing defense collapse on the player driving to the basket.
This has led to Oklahoma City being one of the best 3-point shooting teams in the NBA this season. Hitting their shots from beyond the arc at a 38.9% clip, OKC is second in the league in 3-point percentage this season.
With so much of the Thunder's offense centered around perimeter shooting, however, the team can struggle when they aren't knocking down shots at their usual rate. Against the Lakers on Monday night, Oklahoma City went 15-of-49 from beyond the arc, shooting 25 more 3-pointers than Los Angeles.
The Thunder have not fixed their rebounding troubles
OKC was once again out-rebounded on Monday night, with the Lakers grabbing four more boards than Daigenault's group.
Even in Oklahoma City's previous contest against the Magic, Orlando managed to grab 50 rebounds, four more than the Thunder.
With the team's five-out style of offense and a smaller center on the floor in Holmgren, OKC will naturally be at a slight disadvantage on the boards but usually counteract this with their defensive ability.
Still, rebounding struggles have been one of the Thunder's biggest weaknesses this season and will likely be an area the team looks to improve over the offseason.
Through 39 games, Oklahoma City ranks in the bottom three in the NBA in rebounds, averaging just over 41 per game. Coming in just ahead of the Pacers and Wizards, OKC's one glaring weakness this season has been on the boards.
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