Los Angeles Lakers Game 14/15 preview vs. Oklahoma City Thunder

The Los Angeles Lakers are set to go up against the Oklahoma City Thunder two straight times on Tuesday and Friday. Here’s everything you need to know.

The Los Angeles Lakers are coming off a convincing 122-101 victory against the Atlanta Hawks which has elevated them to the best overall record in the NBA and tightened their grip on the No. 1 spot in the Western Conference.

On the other hand, the Oklahoma City Thunder have a 5-7 record and are fringe playoff contenders, which is surprising given everyone’s preseason expectations of them being a bottom-five team in the West.

Led by the outstanding play of second-year player Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who is currently averaging 20.4 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 3.1 assists, as well as Chris Paul and Danilo Gallinari, the team has managed to stay in most of their games.

In the last two weeks, per CleaningtheGlass, the Oklahoma City Thunder rank 13th in offense, and 24th in defense. Their strong offensive numbers are due in large part, to their very balanced scoring attack, in which four players are currently averaging over 12 points, and three are averaging over 15 points.

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The Los Angeles Lakers have continued to be one of the more impressive teams statistically, ranking 3rd in offense and 8th in defense. They are an absolute force in the paint, ranking 3rd in shot attempts at the rim and 2nd in shooting percentage from there. However, the Thunder currently ranks 12th in defending shots at the rim, so the Lakers may find it more difficult at generating offense from that area.

On the injury front for the Thunder, Andre Roberson has yet to make his debut with the team as he is still making his way back from a ruptured patella tendon he suffered back in January 2018.

For the Lakers, they will still be without Avery Bradley, who suffered a hairline fracture in his right leg. But more importantly, it would appear that Anthony Davis is playing through injuries to both his ribs and shoulder. He sat out last Wednesday’s game against the Warriors but was still clearly bothered by these injuries in his return against the Hawks.

Here are some keys to the game the Lakers need to consider if they want to come out on top. The most important is winning the rebounding battle. The Thunder have a lot of size in Steven Adams, Nerlens Noel, and even Danilo Gallinari and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, so the Laker’s big man rotation will have a lot on their plate keeping these guys off the boards.

Gallinari and Alexander are by far the team’s most explosive scorers, and although they may have a defensive answer for SGA in Danny Green, limiting Gallo will prove to be a little more difficult. But, regardless, keying in on these two will be big for limiting the Thunder’s overall offense.

In addition, the Lakers should also try to get out in transition as much as possible, as the Thunder rank 19th in transition opportunities allowed, and 22nd in overall transition defense. Luckily for the Lakers, the team has one of the best outlet passers in LeBron James, and one of the best transition finishers in Anthony Davis, so look for these two to take advantage of this hole in the Thunder defense.

But most importantly, the Lakers are about to embark on a tough road schedule, where twelve out of the next fifteen games will be on the road. Closing out this recent homestand with a victory will be huge going into this next chunk of the schedule.