Lakers vs. Thunder PREVIEW! Can Oklahoma City contain Luka Doncic without Lu Dort? | NBA Today

Lakers vs. Thunder PREVIEW! Can Oklahoma City contain Luka Doncic without Lu Dort? | NBA Today

All right, we got a little role reversal here. We have Malikica Andrews on the sidelines tonight for OKC and the Lakers. So, Malikica, the Lakers 4- one against teams above 500. How are they looking at this particular matchup against the defending champs? I love the role reversal, George. The Lakers are looking at this like a litmus test, right? They’re coming into Oklahoma City. They know they’re the champions and they’re saying, “Okay, this is an early season test for us to see exactly who we have.” I was talking to Austin Reeves earlier at shootaround and he said that this is a nice time to be able to check in against the standardbearers of the league in the Oklahoma City Thunder. Now remember last April the Lakers they played the Oklahoma City Thunder right here in this building twice in just a handful of days and the Lakers beat them the first time and they hung really tough with them the second time. The coaching staff, you bet they’re reminding the Lakers of that outing here because this can feel like an incredibly tough building to play in. We just saw the Oklahoma City Oklahoma City Thunder steamroll the Warriors last night. This is a very tough team in a tough test, but Austin told me that he feels like this team is much better than they were last year. They have more chemistry under their belt and they’re feeling as good as you can going up against the Champs tonight. Yeah, and the Champs, as you mentioned, coming off a backtoback. But the Champs are also better this year, I think. They have the top defense in the league, Luca, though, averaging 379 and N. How are the Thunder looking at trying to contain Luca? That’s a little bit of a scary thought, right? That the Oklahoma City Thunder are even better than they were last year. Look, containing Luca cannot be done by one person, particularly tonight without Lou Dorton, the lineup here for the Oklahoma City Thunder. So, expect to see a lot of Casein Wallace on him, right? They’re going to have Chad Homegrren. They’re going to have their other guys. That’s a departure from how they handled a backto-back last week against the Portland Trailblazers when they sat more of their roster. But Lou Dort being out, remember Luca Donic has described Lou Dort as one of the most difficult defenders he has ever had to face. He’s not going to have that test tonight. So, it’s going to be done by committee here. But I will say this, George, JJ Reic told me this morning that the Oklahoma City Thunder, a lot of teams say this, they actually mean it. When OKC has a next manup mentality, there’s not much drop off with the next guy who comes in to defend Luca Donic. It’s going to be a tough task. Yeah, no question about it. Malikica, one favor. keep Richard in check today somehow. Okay, that is a big big favor, but I will do my best. I will do what I can. All right, Malikica, take care. Thank you so much. All right, Malikica, tonight on the Lakers and OKC [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause]

I join Jorge Sedano on NBA Today from the Paycom Center to preview the Oklahoma City Thunder’s home matchup against the Los Angeles Lakers.

#ESPN #NBAonESPN #NBAToday