Before the second round even started, JJ Redick knew how important it was for the Los Angeles Lakers to contain the Oklahoma City Thunder's soul-crushing runs. A big part of that is not turning the ball over. Alas, that is indeed the smell of freshly-baked apples in the room.
In Game 1, the Lakers were giftwrapping plenty of opportunities to the Thunder via giveaways. Los Angeles turned the ball over 18 times and allowed 20 points conceded off turnovers in the matchup. It was a big part of why a strong early effort never materialized in an upset win.
Game 2 was actually worse for the Lakers in that specific department. The number of turnovers climbed up to 21, and the points conceded off those moments rose to 26. Los Angeles was trending in the wrong direction and Redick knew it too.
The Lakers coach openly discussed the emerging trend after the first two games of the series. Redick highlighted the need to take care of the ball as one of the two core focuses for Game 3. Hopefully, Los Angeles heeds the warning from their bench boss.
Lakers must stop feeding easy opportunities to the Thunder
Redick has long known just how damaging those Thunder runs are. For his part, the Lakers coach has done a commendable job with timely timeouts to halt Oklahoma City's momentum. This is about the players executing.
LeBron James made the argument that despite the uptick in turnovers during Game 2, it was not all that bad. Some of the missed connections came from the right type of opportunism.
"We've had some turnovers, ... there wasn't that many where it was like careless turnovers," James said. "Some of them was being aggressive. We [are] okay with that."
There were a handful of careless moments though. It was more than LeBron was letting on with that statement.
On the whole, it is difficult to argue what the postseason stats say about the type of team the Lakers have been in that department. Los Angeles ranks dead-last, coming in at 16th among playoff team when it comes to turnovers per game. They are giving away 18.1 of those things a night, sizably more than the 15th-placed Cleveland Cavaliers (16.9).
The Thunder, meanwhile, are averaging 21.8 points off turnover during this postseason run. That is second only to the Toronto Raptors (22.0).
If the Lakers want to cut into the 2-0 deficit they find themselves in with all the positives they have showcased, cleaning up this major negative is a must. The alternative is letting all their competitiveness go to waste otherwise.
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