Skip to main content
Inside The Thunder

Three Things to Watch When the Thunder Play the Lakers

We'll give you three things to watch as the Thunder get ready for the Lakers on Wednsday.
Erik Gee|
Three Things to Watch When the Thunder Play the Lakers
Three Things to Watch When the Thunder Play the Lakers

Lakers Load Management

This game means nothing to the Lakers. After their 116-108 win over the Jazz Los Angeles clinched the top spot in the Western Conference and home-court advantage throughout the playoffs (whatever that's worth). 

Wednesday would be prime time for Frank Vogel to sit LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and any other starters, he feels needs rest before the postseason. While that might make you feel a little more relaxed about the Thunder's chances for a win, let's not forget at short-handed Lakers routed the Thunder 125-110 back in January. 

The Thunder has no margin for error over these next six games as they are just two games ahead of the Mavericks for the sixth seed and a half-game behind the Rockets for the fourth. Whatever breaks the Lakers give them Oklahoma City needs to play this one as if it's an elimination game. 

Bazley's Time To Shine

It was Hamidou Diallo on Saturday, then Abel Nader stepped up Monday, who's next? The Thunder bench is going to need more than just one player to make up for the loss of Dennis Schroder's 19 points per game. 

The likely candidate is Darius Bazlely, Bazley scored 15 points in the Thunder's last two contests, including a 4/5 10 point performance vs. The Jazz. While Bazley has been exceptional in the two seeding games, he's been a bit overshadowed by Diallo and Nader. 

Bazley is averaging 25.5 minutes since the season restarted, that's up from the 17 he was averaging before the break. One reason for the increase in minutes was Saturday's game getting out of hand, the other is the Thunder's depth keeps taking hits. 

Bazley is going to be a foundation player for the Thunder's future, but there's nothing wrong with getting started early. 

Playing with Energy

Danilo Gallinari wouldn't make any excuses for the Thunder running out of gas against the Nuggets. He says Denver played with more energy than Oklahoma City. 

"They played with a better pace, and their execution  offensively was better than ours."..."We need to be better in those situations and bring more energy and pay more attention to detail."

Gallinari also says the team missed Dennis Schroder. He points to Schroder's ability to change games off the bench as to why the Thunder is having a successful season.  Both Gallinari and Billy Donovan says Oklahoma City must play 48 minutes. 

Someone needs to seize the opportunity to be a playmaker. The Thunder might not have "another gear" to get to as ESPN's Zach Lowe suggests, but he also claims they are "Tough as hell" if that's the case, then whether it's Lu Dort or someone off the bench now is the time to prove your worth. 

   

 Have you signed up for the Inside the Thunder Community Board? We are trying to create a place to share posts and have intriguing and fun conversations about all things related to the Oklahoma City Thunder! Once you sign up, feel free to post as you'd like.

With more than 20 years of experience hosting local and national radio shows, Erik Gee is a fixture of Oklahoma sports media. He has covered the Oklahoma City Thunder for the past six seasons. He is also the co-host of the Pat Jones show on 97.1 The Sports Animal in Tulsa.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Loading recommendations... Please wait while we load personalized content recommendations

Published
Erik Gee
ERIK GEE

With more than 20 years of experience hosting local and national radio shows, Erik Gee is a fixture of Oklahoma sports media. He has covered the Oklahoma City Thunder for the past six seasons. He is also the co-host of the Pat Jones show on 97.1 The Sports Animal in Tulsa. 

Share on XFollow @InsideOKCNBA
Home/News