Looking at this year's regular-season clashes between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Los Angeles Lakers would create unease for anyone hoping this upcoming playoff series will be close. The Thunder were not only victors in all four matchups, but they dominated the majority.
On Nov. 12, the Thunder won comfortably by a margin of 121-92. Feb. 9 was better for the Lakers, but they still lost 119-110. April 2 was the doomsday for LA, not only dropping the matchup 139-96, but losing Luka Doncic to an injury that still has him out today. A 123-87 win on April 7 wrapped up the regular-season sweep in OKC's favor.
So, what were the takeaways from those matchups for JJ Redick? Well, the Lakers coach did not think there were many to be found.
Redick told Dan Woike of The Athletic: “We couldn’t learn a lot from three of those games because we were God awful.”
Thankfully for the Lakers, this should go both ways. While Redick and his crew were unable to draw many lessons from those regular-season meetings, it should be a similar case for Mark Daigneault and the Thunder ahead of their rapidly-approaching matchup in the second round.
Lakers and Thunder are starting this series with a clean slate
The idea here is that neither the Lakers or Thunder can truly study the tape from their previous meetings for overwhelming insight into what should be expected in this series. Los Angeles is a different team.
They have embraced their status of being underdogs through this playoff campaign. Naturally, there is a big difference between being underdogs to the Houston Rockets than there is when the Thunder are the team on the other end.
However, for their parts, the Lakers are trying to put the regular season meetings between these two sides behind them. Members of Los Angeles have talked about how much they respect Oklahoma City. However, that does not slip to a point of fear by any means.
The two meetings in April between both sides should have been the measuring stick moments for the Lakers. However, with Doncic and Austin Reaves getting banged up in the first game, plus the second matchup not featuring any of the three stars, there is truly no good sample to overly evaluate here, as Redick suggested.
For the Lakers, that could be a good thing. They can treat this matchup against the Thunder with a sense of renewal. Quite frankly, given the history, there are few other ways to approach it for Los Angeles without losing confidence in their ability.
Mentally, the Lakers must sell themselves on the idea of the Thunder not really knowing what this version of their team is capable of. There may even be an inkling of truth to that sentiment.
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