EVERYTHING You NEED to Know Before Lakers vs Thunder! | How the Lakers TAKE ADVANTAGE of Matchup!

Welcome back everyone. Today's show is

brought to you by Prospects. And all

right, we got Lakers Thunder round two

matchup. The matchup that we have been

waiting for ever since game three. We

thought it would come sooner than this,

but the Lakers took their time. And

luckily for them, the Toronto Raptors

and Cleveland Cavaliers are taking their

time, too. And why is that applicable?

Well, it is because the forcing of a

game seven pushed game one of Lakers

first Thunder from Sunday night now to

Tuesday night, giving the Lakers an

extra 3 days of rest. So, that's

obviously number one to point to when

game one will actually happen, which

again happens to be on Tuesday, not

Sunday. And that's obviously a good

thing, not only for the Lakers, but

potentially for the Thunder, too, as

they're both playing without a current

top three player on their team.

Obviously, for the Lakers, that happens

to be Luca Donic. you know, we've heard

about it. The updates have come and have

kind of come back and forth with him.

Will he come back? Will he not come

back? Is he even getting close to coming

back? That's definitely up for debate

here, but it's kind of mysterious at

this point. What we know is that he

currently is in a return to play

progression, but he is not progressing

very quickly. According to some reports,

he's not even running or doing much of

any fast subtempo movement yet. isn't

playing one-on-one, is not playing

threeon-ree, or doing any contact quite

yet. You know, maybe he was waiting

until round one was over with, waiting

to the Lakers getting back to practice

and he can join them, but we have yet to

see that happen. And then for the

Thunder, they're playing without Jaylen

Williams, JDub, not Jay Will, suffering

a grade one hamstring strain during

round one. They're number two behind Jay

on offense. Not only that, but one of

their best defenders and definitely

their most versatile defender in my

opinion. without him, which they likely

will be for game one. If you haven't

heard yet, he did suffer a grade one

hamstring strain in round one, which

gave him a timetable of being out for

roughly one to two weeks, if not maybe a

little bit longer, and it likely will be

a little bit longer for him, as if

you're not aware, he had two different

hamstring strains before that one this

season. Yes, it happened to be on the

opposite leg, but at this point, there's

obvious weakness. There's an obvious

buildup here with them that they have to

be careful with. I mean, obviously they

have to win round two, but they have

aspirations beyond this point. And if

they're going to have JDub beyond it,

let alone even in it, they have to let

him fully heal, much like Lakers are

trying to do with Luca. So likely for

game one, there's not going to be either

Luca Donic or Jaylen Williams. And

that's first and foremost. But moving

past that and getting into the actual

breakdown, what you need to know and

everything you need to know is what we

are going to talk about next. And if you

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But now, getting right into it. And

beginning from a basic standpoint,

looking at the record, their overall

matchup data, simply the basic stats.

After that, we'll get a bit more

advanced. But beginning with the basic

outlook, this season the Thunder

finished with a 64-18 record, being the

first seed in the Western Conference and

pretty much being the best team in the

NBA during the regular season. Then for

the Lakers, finishing with a 53 and 29

record, being the fourth seed in the

Western Conference and definitely having

a strong end to the year. This season,

the Thunder put up 119 points per game,

finishing fifth in the NBA, while the

Lakers put up 116.3, finishing 11th. The

Thunder did show 25.8 assists per game,

ranking 19th. So, while they have a good

offense, they don't move the ball

particularly well at all times. It kind

of can become a dribble game with them.

Often times with Sha Gil just Alexander

in isolation or with Chad Homegr in the

post. Not always the best ball movement

team and sometimes that can be a flaw

for them, but it definitely is easier

said than done to make them actually

falter with that. Then for the Lakers,

dishing out 25.9 assists per game,

ranking 17th in the NBA. But the Thunder

are very careful with the ball, only

averaging 12.6 turnovers per game this

season, ranking second in the NBA, while

the Lakers committed 14.5 per game,

ranking 15th. And they're coming off a

first matchup where they dished out

roughly 18 turnovers per game. So they

do have to be a bit more careful with

the bowl as the Thunder can definitely

make you pay. this season ranking top

three in steals per game with nearly 10

per game. And while the Lakers are

fairly disruptive themselves, forcing

8.5 steals per game, ranking 14th, not

quite as good compared to the Thunder.

And then for the overall efficiency, the

Thunder shot 48.4% from the field this

season, ranking fifth, while the Lakers

were the literal best and most efficient

team, shooting 50.2% from the field. And

then for the three-point line, the

Thunder ranking in the top 10 at 36.5%

while the Lakers fell a little bit

outside the top 10, shooting 35.9%,

ranking 14th. And then for the free

throw battle, as it often gets talked

about with both teams, the Lakers shot

26.8 free throws per game, while the

Thunder attempted 23.2, ranking second

and 17th, respectively. However, that

has tightened up during the postseason

with the Lakers attempting 26.3 and the

Thunder attempting 24.8. We'll talk more

about the actual playoff stats in the

playoff matchup in a bit, but just a

little bit more added clarity with that

one. Then finally for the rebounding,

the Thunder grabbing 44 per game,

ranking 12th, while the Lakers grab 41,

ranking 27th. Again, just a basic

outlook and definitely not telling the

entire tale about either team, neither

offensively or defensively, but

something to point to here with it is

that the Thunder obviously very

disruptive, ranking top three in steals

per game, also ranking top five in block

shots per game. They're very effective

offensively, good on both ends of the

court, obviously. Definitely a tough

team without many flaws. There are very

many weaknesses and Lakers are obviously

very efficient with or without Luca

Donuch still very efficient. are a solid

three-point shooting team, are a solid

defense, and a pretty solid disruptive

defense. Don't have a ton of flaws to

point to, but definitely more than the

Thunder do from a basic standpoint.

But if we then take it to a more

advanced standpoint, looking at the

advanced outlook here during the regular

season, again, the Thunder obviously

ranking well offensively and defensely,

ranking seventh in offense rating,

ranking first in defense rating by quite

a long shot. By the way, overall ranking

first in net rating with a plus 11.1

net. Also ranking top five in true

shooting percentage, ranking top one in

turnover percentage. Again, very careful

with the ball. They're not a very sloppy

team, but they're not a particularly

quick team or they don't like to play

fast anyway and use that to their

strength on offense. This season, they

were 16th in pace, while the Lakers

ranked 22nd in pace. So, something to

point to with that. Much like the Lakers

and Rocket series, it wasn't a very

uptempo, quick back and forth kind of