![\"LOS](\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/athletic\/uploads\/wp\/2024\/11\/30090222\/GettyImages-2187526806-1024x683.jpg?width=1920&quality=70&auto=webp\")
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LOS ANGELES \u2014 With the\u00a0Los Angeles Lakers\u00a0trailing the\u00a0Oklahoma City Thunder\u00a0by two points, and less than 30 seconds remaining in Friday night\u2019s game, the Lakers needed a defensive stop for a chance to tie or take the lead.<\/p>\n
As\u00a0Max Christie\u00a0crouched in his stance, waiting for\u00a0Shai Gilgeous-Alexander\u00a0to charge, coach JJ Redick called out a defensive coverage.<\/p>\n
Christie, misunderstanding what Redick was signaling, thought his coach was implying the Lakers had a foul to give and fouled Gilgeous-Alexander on a drive. The Lakers did not have a foul to give. The Thunder were already in the bonus \u2014 and had been in the bonus for several minutes.<\/p>\n
Gilgeous-Alexander calmly walked to the free-throw line and sank both shots, extending the Thunder\u2019s lead to four with 22.4 seconds left and essentially icing the game.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a misinterpretation on my part,\u201d Christie said. \u201cI knew the time and score of the game, but I didn\u2019t realize they were in the bonus. \u2026 I take responsibility for that. \u2026\u00a0I\u2019m not going to say that my mistake cost us the entire game, but it was definitely probably the biggest one of the game.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Lakers\u2019 101-93 loss to the Thunder on Friday dropped them to 11-8 and eliminated them from the NBA Cup. Los Angeles has lost three straight home games and four of five games overall, with several coming against teams that project as some of the best in the West (the Thunder,\u00a0Denver Nuggets\u00a0and\u00a0Phoenix Suns).<\/p>\n
Christie\u2019s foul may have been the loudest error, but it was far from the only one. On the next possession,\u00a0Austin Reaves, who played through an arm injury he suffered late in the second quarter that required him to briefly leave the game, threw an errant pass to\u00a0Dalton Knecht\u00a0that was picked off for a game-sealing dunk by\u00a0Jalen Williams.<\/p>\n
LeBron James, Reaves and Russell combined for 14 of the Lakers\u2019 17 turnovers, which led to 20 points for the Thunder, who lead the league in points off turnovers. And for a Lakers team that ranks 25th in the\u00a0NBA\u00a0in defense, those types of errors are too much to overcome against elite competition.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere were half-dozen to a dozen plays that just shot us in the foot even before the late-game stuff,\u201d Redick said. \u201cWe played well enough and hard enough to win against the best team in the West. So, there\u2019s definitely good stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n
James, in particular, had several inexcusable turnovers. He had multiple travels and jump-passes that ended up in the Thunder\u2019s hands. He\u2019s turned the ball over four or more times in nine straight games and five or more times in four straight games.<\/p>\n
The past two-plus weeks have easily been one of the worst decision-making stretches of his legendary career. James had 59 turnovers in 14 games in November. The last time he had that many turnovers in a month was January 2021, and he did so in 16 games.<\/p>\n
High-usage superstars will always be among the league leaders in turnovers. Still, many of James\u2019 recent miscues have been questionable.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey got great hands,\u201d James said of the Thunder. \u201cVery aggressive at the point of attack. They got some guys that can guard the ball. They do a good job of getting their hands on loose rocks out there, 50-50 balls.\u201d<\/p>\n
The loss undermined what had otherwise been one of the Lakers\u2019 best defensive performances of the season. The Lakers followed up an impressive defensive outing against the\u00a0San Antonio Spurs\u00a0by holding the Thunder to 101 points, including 40.9-percent shooting and 32.5-percent 3-point shooting. Oklahoma City scored just 39 points across the second and third quarters. Los Angeles also allowed a season-low 38 paint points.<\/p>\n
The Lakers did a good job of both walling off the paint and spraying out to shooters. The Thunder\u2019s offensive system is difficult to stop because they have shooting and ballhandling everywhere, forcing the opposing defense to get into rotation and scramble. The Lakers held up as well as they reasonably could.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was as connected as our group has been on that end of the floor since the first game of the season,\u201d Redick said. \u201cJust a really outstanding job with a lot of the stuff we talked about.\u201d<\/p>\n
Their only defensive shortcomings were they didn\u2019t force many turnovers (the Thunder had only 10), and they allowed 15 offensive rebounds as the hectic style of defense allowed the Thunder perimeter to crash among the chaos.<\/p>\n
Those two OKC advantages \u2014 along with Los Angeles\u2019 turnovers \u2014 led the Thunder to attempt 20 more shots than the Lakers, which was the difference in the game.<\/p>\n
\u201cI mean, when you\u2019re shading and helping a lot \u2013 especially against Shai and J-Dub \u2013 they have a numbers game on offensive rebounding,\u201d James said. \u201cBut we got to do a better job of trying to clean glass.\u201d<\/p>\n
Following a 3-0 start against three playoff-caliber opponents and a six-game win streak that propelled them to 10-4, the Lakers have seemingly been reminded of their place in the league hierarchy recently.<\/p>\n
They were crushed in the second half in demoralizing blowout losses to the Denver Nuggets and Phoenix Suns. They also lost nail-biters to the\u00a0Orlando Magic\u00a0and Thunder in which they executed poorly down the stretch. Their lone win was a rout of the San Antonio Spurs, who are above .500 but just 10th in the West. They went just 1-4 in this five-game stretch that some around the organization felt would be telling of where they currently stand.<\/p>\n
Near the quarter-mark of the season, the Lakers appear to be an above-average team that can compete with just about anybody any night, but can\u2019t always summon the defensive effort, focus or execution to beat the league\u2019s best. They are 7-1 against teams below .500 and just 4-7 against teams above .500.<\/p>\n
The beginning of December will further test the Lakers. After their pitstop at home \u2014 the Lakers played a back-to-back in Phoenix and San Antonio before Thanksgiving \u2014 they head back on the road for a four-game trip in Utah, Minnesota, Miami and Atlanta. The Lakers have already dropped to sixth in the West after being in the top four for much of the early part of the season, and are at risk of finding themselves in an unenviable hole if they can\u2019t stop this skid soon.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe got to figure it out,\u201d James said of the upcoming road trip. \u201cLean on each other if you don\u2019t have it. \u2026 It\u2019s going to be a tough road trip for us. We got to be ready to go.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
LOS ANGELES \u2014 With the\u00a0Los Angeles Lakers\u00a0trailing the\u00a0Oklahoma City Thunder\u00a0by two points, and less than 30 seconds remaining in Friday night\u2019s game, the Lakers needed a defensive… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6473,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6455","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba"],"yoast_head":"\n