This Changes EVERYTHING We Thought About the Lakers...

This changes everything we thought about

the Lakers as the purple and gold just

experienced their first matchup against

the reigning champions. And while it did

not go their way, there are some things

to take away from this game that they

can implement and improve on in game

two. And welcome to Lakers Digest. My

name is Hunter Pitoff where we cover

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Before we get into this game one recap

as the Lakers lose to the Oklahoma City

Thunder and opening game of this series,

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make some picss later on in this video

as well. So stick around for that as I

click the wrong button like I normally

do if you watch these videos. But look,

the Lakers just need to be better. I

know that's easier said than done

against this Thunder team that I think

they are one of the best teams I have

ever seen at not beating your themselves

and then capitalizing on their

opponent's mistakes and the Lakers

really got their first taste of that in

this game. And I really thought the

final score while they did lose by 18

points, it really didn't feel like a

blowout. It just felt like the Thunder

made more plays than the Lakers. And

that sounds pretty obvious, but if you

look at I think hopefully I got the

right one here. Look at that. Like this

is the final score total. The Lakers got

outscored by five in the first, three in

the second, four in the third, and then

six in the fourth quarter. Like none of

that is super egregious. But of course,

if you do the math, it ends up being an

18-point win. And the Lakers, as you can

see here as well, they really just

stalled out offensively in this game. Uh

they had 53

points in the first half and then only

scored 37 in the second. Like that's not

going to be good enough against this

Thunder team at all. That also kind of

cooled off too in the second half. But

the Lakers weren't hitting their shots.

And JJ Reic even saying after the game

that the Lakers got good quality shots

that they wanted, they just didn't

execute. And looking at the game stats

tonight, uh really thought LeBron and

Ruby were great catalyst for this one.

Especially LeBron early. He was

fantastic. Couldn't have asked for

anything more from him as he finished

with 27 points, 12 of 17 from the field,

three of six from three. And then of

course got the guys involved as well

with the assists. And again, in our last

video, we said that LeBron would hit uh

more than his player rejection was for

points and assists. I forgot what the

number was, but he definitely cleared it

in this game. And Ri Hamera continuing

the hot shooting from game six as he was

really good. And that's another player

who I think can really handle the

physicality well uh for the Lakers. I

thought DeAndre Aton played a good game

as well, but we'll get into him a little

bit here as um and what he can do to be

better. But overall, other guys on the

Lakers just really really need to step

up and they had 17 turnovers. Not an

egregious number, but the Thunder scored

a lot of points off of those turnovers.

It also does not help when the Thunder

shot 43% from three and they missed a

couple shots at the end of that game,

too. Like they it basically felt like

anytime they had an open shot, it just

didn't miss at all. And

whatever it is, the Thunder just do not

miss shots, especially when they play

the Lakers. They're a good, not great

jump shooting team, especially from

three. But when they play the Lakers,

they all a sudden become the prime Steph

Curry, Klay Thompson, Golden State

Warriors, because of course they

freaking do. Why else wouldn't they? And

looking at what they did tonight, Jay

Gilis Alexander wasn't even that great

for them. I mean, he only had 18 points.

Like, they held him under 20, right? The

guy just broke Wilt Chamberlain's record

for most regular season games with um 20

or more points and he only had 18

tonight and he only got to the free

throw three times. So, I actually think

the Lakers did a really good job playing

some good defense on him, but it was the

other guys that just stepped up for

them. Jared McCain really closed it out

in the fourth quarter with the

three-point shooting. He shot four or

five from three. Shed Holgrim was good

the whole game, 24-2 for him. I think he

also had a good amount of blocks. uh

three blocks. He's one of the best

defensive players in the league. And an

AJ Mitchell filling in for Jaylen

Williams, 18 points for him as well. And

that will do it. Whereas you look at

what the Lakers got, they also got nine

points from Isaiah Joe. And then looking

at what the Lakers did, like outside of

Ruie, Aton, and LeBron, they really

didn't get much. Um and we'll get into

some of the poor shooting here. I guess

we'll get into it now. Um because

overall, the Lakers just did not execute

well enough. If you look at what they

shot from the field, 42% and 33% from

three, that is simply not good enough

and that's not going to cut it against a

team like the Oklahoma City Thunder,

which we talked about. If you want to

beat the Thunder, you have to make

shots. And they did not do that. And

they turned the ball over probably a

little bit too much in this game for

their liking against this team. But

that's going to bring us to our next

point. How can they steal one on the

road? Because look, I really don't think

this game was as bad as I thought it was

going to be. The Thunder did cover.

They're 15 and a half point favorites,

the biggest spread against LeBron James

in his entire career in a playoff game.

And they did cover, but I actually think

there is weirdly some optimism in this

game. And I think the Lakers can

actually kind of hang with this team

because they certainly did in the first

half, and they just got really cold in

the second half. Now, I think the

Thunder did play some good defense, but

I think for the Lakers here, Austin

Reeves just needs to play better. I

mean, he was one of 11 at one point,

three of 16 from the field, 05 from

three. If he's gonna play that bad the

entire series, the Lakers are going to

lose in four, period. But if Austin

Reeds can pick it back up and he can

figure it out, then I think they have a

much better chance. If he even shot

seven of 16 from this game, the Lakers

are well in the thick of it and they

have a chance to win. So Austin just

needs to get some of those shots going.

Marcus Smart 415 as well. He's got to

make some more shots. Um, you know, had

a decent assist to turnover ratio. So, I

thought he made some really good

defensive plays, four steals on the

night, but um you know, that's someone

who's probably going to need to hit some

more shots, too. And then Luc Canari

needs to wake the f up, man. I mean, the

dude had seven points, but uh he got a

free throw a bit, but you want to see

him get some more threes up because

again, to beat the Thunder, you need to

make shots. Um the Lakers did shoot 33

threes in this game, so they did shoot

more than they normally do. They were

making some early, but they just got