OKC Thunder: 3 keys to seize victory versus Lakers in rematch

With many NBA fans likely getting their first glimpse of the OKC Thunder this season they got a great example of what the embodiment of this squad is comprised of. Despite the fact the Thunder were playing their third game in four days and had only the minimum eight players available they pushed the defending champions to overtime.

Sure, they lost but they weren’t even supposed to be competitive in this match. OKC held the lead for much of the game and youngsters Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Darius Bazley, and Hamidou Diallo all delivered under the bright lights generally reserved for the LA clubs and big market teams.

The issue now is the team has to play the Lakers again and no doubt Frank Vogel will be delivering a speech regarding taking teams for granted. The Monday match was the second game in a row the Lakers were pushed to overtime by a lower-tier club. It’s unlikely the Lakers would make the same mistake three games in a row or not come out laser-focused to capture an early lead.

With that let’s dive into the three takeaways.

OKC Thunder key number 1: Follow a similar game plan

What worked in the first match on Monday might not be as successful tonight but the one clear takeaway was the Thunder made sure to come out focused and not fall behind early.

That part of the game plan needs to be emphasized and hopefully emulated because the games when they let opponents take massive early leads have typically resulted in double-figure losses.

Another area the OKC Thunder excelled in game one was perimeter defense where they held LA to 9 of 38 or 23.7 percent.

Presumably, the Thunder will be working with a threadbare roster again so they simply can’t afford to fall behind by a large deficit when they have so few active players.

The other factor is their frontcourt is severely diminished since Isaiah Roby out and Mike Muscala are expected to be out again. The one saving grace is Anthony Davis is likely to also be out again.

At this stage in the season, it wouldn’t make sense for Davis to push through a nagging injury. He’s already missed games earlier this year due to ailments on the same leg so why risk having him suffer an injury that would force him to miss extended time.