Lakers Seeking More Answers After NBA Cup Elimination, Approaching Trip

November 30, 2024

The Los Angeles Lakers find themselves at a crossroads after Friday night’s 101-93 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder. The defeat, punctuated by critical late-game mistakes, knocked the Lakers out of the NBA Cup and left them searching for answers following a stretch of poor play.

Max Christie’s ill-timed foul on Shai Gilgeous-Alexander with under 30 seconds remaining encapsulated the team’s struggles.

Christie, believing the Lakers had a foul to give, sent Gilgeous-Alexander to the line, where he extended the Thunder’s lead to four points and effectively ended the game.

To his credit, Christie owned up to the miscue. “It was my mistake,” he said. “I’ll learn from it.”

But the issues didn’t stop there. Austin Reaves followed up with a turnover on the ensuing possession, and Jalen Williams turned it into a highlight-reel dunk to seal the deal.

Turnovers were a recurring theme, with the Lakers committing 17 on the night — 14 of which came from their core trio of LeBron James, D’Angelo Russell, and Reaves. The Thunder, one of the league’s most opportunistic teams, turned those miscues into 20 points.

This latest loss dropped the Lakers to 11-8, and while there’s no shame in falling to a red-hot Thunder team, the bigger picture is concerning. Los Angeles has now lost three straight home games and four of its last five, a skid that’s exposed flaws in their defensive discipline and late-game execution.

James, in particular, has struggled with decision-making, committing 59 turnovers in November—the most in a single month for him since 2021. For a player of his stature, it’s an unusual and concerning stretch.

Still, there were positives. Defensively, the Lakers delivered one of their best efforts of the season, holding the Thunder to 40.9% shooting and just 39 points in the second and third quarters. But even their defensive strides were undercut by 15 offensive rebounds allowed and a massive disparity in shot attempts, with Oklahoma City attempting 20 more shots.

As head coach JJ Redick put it, “We played hard enough to win, but the mistakes piled up.”

The Lakers now face a pivotal stretch with a four-game road trip looming. They’ve proven capable of competing with the league’s best, but unless they clean up the turnovers and maintain defensive focus, they’ll continue to find themselves on the losing end of close games. For now, the margin for error remains razor-thin.

“We got to figure it out,” James said, via Jovan Buha of The Athletic. “Lean on each other if you don’t have it. … It’s going to be a tough road trip for us. We got to be ready to go.”