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Lakers stars Luka Doncic (77) and LeBron James (23) speak to an official during the second half of their game against the Oklahoma City Thunder as teammate Austin Reaves, far right, looks on Tuesday night in Oklahoma City. Doncic was ejected after receiving a second technical foul. (Photo by Joshua Gateley/Getty Images)
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Lakers stars Luka Doncic (77) and LeBron James (23) speak to an official during the second half of their game against the Oklahoma City Thunder as teammate Austin Reaves, far right, looks on Tuesday night in Oklahoma City. Doncic was ejected after receiving a second technical foul. (Photo by Joshua Gateley/Getty Images)
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OKLAHOMA CITY — There were questions immediately after the Lakers’ blowout victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday afternoon about whether the Lakers would go “all in” for the second matchup in three days between the two teams on Tuesday night.
And those questions were only heightened when the Lakers listed three starters (Luka Doncic, LeBron James, Austin Reaves) and two other key rotation players (Dorian Finney-Smith, Gabe Vincent) as questionable for Tuesday’s rematch.
Tuesday was the first night of the Lakers’ final back-to-back set of the season, with a nationally-televised matchup against the Dallas Mavericks – Doncic’s first game at American Airlines Center since the stunning trade in early February – waiting for the Lakers on Wednesday night.
The Lakers need just one more win to officially clinch a spot in the playoff bracket as a top-six seed and two more to clinch the No. 3 seed (Houston officially secured the No. 2 seed on Tuesday night).
But Coach JJ Redick made it clear that the Lakers’ urgency is ever-present – evident when Doncic, James, Reaves, Finney-Smith and Vincent were upgraded to available an hour before tipoff.
And that players would stick to their commitment of being available and playing if they were medically cleared – a commitment they made once everyone was back in the lineup after the March 22 home loss to the Chicago Bulls.
But the Lakers (48-31) weren’t able to beat the league-best Thunder for a second consecutive game, falling to OKC, 136-120, after the Thunder took advantage of Doncic (23 points, five assists, three rebounds) being dismissed from the game.
“Our guys’ fighting spirit, withstanding a bunch of haymakers in that first half and just continuing to play and then coming out, really playing awesome defense for 12 minutes, it was a great game,” Redick said. “It was a great game that unfortunately didn’t get to finish out the way that every basketball fan would want because of some decision-making on some individual’s parts.”
Doncic was ejected with 7:40 remaining in the game after making a layup that put the Lakers ahead, 108-107.
The 26-year-old Slovenian star said he was talking trash with a fan sitting courtside after scoring, but referee J.T. Orr thought Doncic was talking to him, leading to the second technical of the night (and the automatic ejection) for Doncic.
Orr had assessed Doncic his first technical at the 4:02 mark of the third quarter.
“The situation with Luca is unfortunate,” Reaves said. “He’s one of the best players in the league. And one thing everybody knows about him is he’s ultra-competitive. And he’s a gamer. So in big situations, everybody talks [expletive]. And he’s talking to the guy in the front row.
“I don’t know if they thought he was talking about him or JT thought he was talking to him or what, but I thought it was very quick. It’s an unfortunate situation because you let so much go in one situation and then you don’t in one situation, so where’s the balance of holding everybody accountable to basically the same standard? I don’t know, unfortunate.”
One possession after Doncic was thrown out after his second technical, Orr called Lakers forward Jarred Vanderbilt for a taunting technical foul after blocking Alex Caruso’s shot at the rim.
“The game was just weird as hell after that moment,” James said.
The Thunder (65-14) immediately took advantage of Doncic’s absence, outscoring the Lakers 13-4 to seize a 120-112 lead midway through the fourth.
The Lakers, led by James (28 points, seven rebounds, three assists) and Reaves (24 points, five assists, five rebounds) down the stretch, cut their deficit to five (120-115) but couldn’t get any closer, with the Thunder scoring nine unanswered points from there to close out their win.
“Obviously when your best player gets ejected, it’s going to be tough,” Reaves said. “We’ve won games without him before, [but] he obviously makes everybody’s life a little easier when he’s out there.”
All-NBA guard and league MVP candidate Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the Thunder with 42 points, six assists and six rebounds. All-Star guard Jalen Williams added 26 points, four assists and four rebounds.
The Lakers and Thunder had high-level offensive performances early, with the score tied at 43-all after the first quarter, before the Thunder took advantage of the Lakers’ 12 first-half turnovers, which directly led to 20 OKC points, to take an 80-72 lead going into halftime. Oklahoma City, which pushed the pace throughout the first half, shot 64.7% from the field before halftime.
The Lakers’ first-half 3-point (15-26) and free-throw (13-15) shooting helped reduce the impact of their giveaways.
They took better care of the ball in the third quarter, helping them win the period 26-17 to take a 98-97 lead going into the fourth.
The teams exchanged the lead six times through the first few minutes of the fourth, setting up for a potentially dramatic finish between two of the best teams in the Western Conference, before Doncic’s deflating ejection that the Lakers didn’t recover from.
“For the game to kind of get unraveled in that situation, it was unfortunate,” Reaves said. “But we have to be better as a group to control that from happening.”
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