The Lakers took down the number one seed in the West – the Thunder and LA star Austin Reaves has spoken about the upset win.
“Yeah, it’s huge. They got the best record in basketball I believe and with where the standings are, you can go from third to I believe eighth in the snap of a finger. So for us to come in here and play such a good team the way we did tonight is big and hopefully we can continue that momentum into Tuesday.”
OKC were 34-5 at home on the season before the loss. With the playoffs only days away, it was a significant win for the purple and gold and Austin Reaves certainly took some positives out of it.
“Yeah, anytime you play like that, regardless of who you’re playing, you can go watch that stuff and see what you can build on. There wasn’t too many chaotic possessions for us on offense, and defensively we didn’t have too many breakdowns. I feel like we kept those to a minimal tonight. I think we kept them off the free throw line really well and we paid attention to the details tonight and just played a really good game.”
Defense was key to the win, and despite the Lakers somewhat lacklustre D in recent games, it was nowhere to be seen this time.
“Defensively, we were locked in and then obviously it helps when you shoot really well from 3 too. But I think it started on the defensive end. Locked in, getting stops, running and then when we slowed down, we got into stuff that worked for us.”
As it stands, Luka, LeBron and Reaves are questionable for the second matchup against the Thunder on Tuesday.
The Lakers have a back-to-back game against the Mavericks the next day, in Luka’s first game back in Dallas since the trade.
READ MORE: Anthony Davis & Jason Kidd Address Luka Doncic’s Return to Dallas