The Los Angeles Lakers will play the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference Semifinals, with Game 1 scheduled for Tuesday evening, according to a May 5 statement. The Lakers enter the series as significant underdogs, with head coach JJ Redick still missing Luka Doncic from the lineup and after losing all four regular season games against the Thunder.
Redick said he remains focused on strategies to help his team compete despite these challenges. He emphasized that controlling Oklahoma City’s momentum swings will be crucial to keeping games close. “Well we couldn’t learn a lot from three of those games because we were god awful,” Redick said of their previous matchups. “I think bigger picture, just a general thing with them is they’re really good at runs. Part of that is how good their defense is, their ability to create turnovers, the live-ball turnovers really kill you. They don’t get out in transition a ton, but when they do they’re the best in the NBA in terms of [points per possession].”
Redick explained his approach further: “Limiting their runs, I know Rick Carlisle is like the master of that, the quick timeout. I’ve already told my players and my staff like I’ve gotta be more diligent than I normally am. I like my timeouts, I like going into the fourth quarter with four timeouts, I like having two in the last 30 seconds.” He added: “I don’t think you have the luxury of worrying about that, because the game can get away from you so quick because of how explosive they are when they go on their runs… mitigating the 12-15 point runs is really important.”
The Thunder have shown an ability to quickly shift momentum by stringing together defensive stops and converting them into points. Redick believes timely timeouts and limiting turnovers could keep games competitive enough for late-game execution to make a difference.
Lakers guard Marcus Smart also commented on defending Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander: “Number one,” he said when asked about Gilgeous-Alexander being among toughest players to defend. “He does a really good job of getting to the free throw line and he’s mastered it… It’s tough, but it can be done. It’s just gonna take a lot of effort from everybody and we gotta stay together.”
As both teams prepare for Game 1, attention will focus on whether Los Angeles can contain Oklahoma City’s scoring bursts and leverage any advantage during critical moments.