Lakers vs. Thunder Preview and Game Thread: Rematch in OKC
The Lakers will likely not have most of their key players against the Thunder on Tuesday.
After successfully making a statement by beating the OKC Thunder last weekend, the Lakers will once again face them on Tuesday. It will be the first night of a back-to-back with Los Angeles facing the Mavericks the following night in Dallas.
The season series between the Thunder and Lakers is currently tied at 1-1.
Start time and TV schedule
Who: Los Angeles Lakers vs. Oklahoma City Thunder
When: 5 PDT, Apr 8
Where: Paycom Center
Watch: Spectrum SportsNet
With the Lakers already at least splitting this back-to-back series against the Thunder, it seems the team has decided to potentially sit half of their roster out for Tuesday’s game.
It’s a bold move considering that L.A. has technically not clinched a playoff berth yet, but perhaps the smart and right one if they play it right.
Maybe it’s because the Lakers play the Mavericks on Wednesday in what is expected to be Luka Dončić’s return to his former city, so it makes sense why they’re saving their legs.
But with that risk comes an automatic loss, especially if the Thunder are expected to play their main guys on Tuesday night.
Regardless, the purple and gold accomplished something by splitting these two games against OKC. And they did it dominantly, not just with a 27-point win but also by limiting the Thunder to 99 points.
It also helped that the Indiana Pacers and Houston Rockets did the Lakers a solid by beating the Denver Nuggets and Golden State Warriors, which increased their chances of being a high seed in the West.
It would still be nice to see whoever suits up for the Lakers against the Thunder in this one play hard and make it a respectable game.
It’s safe to assume that Jordan Goodwin, Dalton Knecht, Jarred Vanderbilt, Jaxson Hayes and Markieff Morris will be available as they are not listed on the injury report. We’ve also seen some miracles before, so who knows? This crew might just shock the world and win the game.
Regardless of who plays or not, we’ll still be supporting the team. Let’s see if it gives us something to cheer about against the Thunder on Tuesday.
Notes and Updates
- For the Lakers’ injury report, Luka Dončić (right groin strain), Dorian Finney Smith (left ankle effusion), LeBron James (left groin strain), Bronny James Jr. (illness), Austin Reaves (right ankle sprain) and Gabe Vincent (left knee effusion) are all listed as questionable.
- Meanwhile, Rui Hachimura (left patellar tendinopathy) and Maxi Kleber (right foot surgery recovery) are out.
- Ousmane Dieng (left calf strain), Alex Ducas (left quad strain), Ajay Mitchell (right great toe) and Nikola Topic (left knee surgery) are out.
- We will be live on Playback for this game, so be sure to join us!
You can follow Nicole on Twitter at @nicoleganglani.