Could a Healthy Lakers Team BEAT OKC in a 7-Game Series?

Could a Healthy Lakers Team BEAT OKC in a 7-Game Series?

Healthy Lakers is greater than OKC last OKC last season. Couchless and injured Denver nearly beat them. So they are not untouchable like everyone acting. I think this is to your point, Ox, where where you said that the regular season is the regular season, but teams are going to have to teams will have a better chance at beating this OKC team in the playoffs when they can scheme and they can try and exploit some of the weaknesses if they have any. Um, healthy Lakers this year better than was it OKC last year or OKC this year? They said last year. Last year, I believe they’re talking about last season. Yeah. Um, Damon, you know, when I when I said that, I I think um a lot of people took that wrong and like I when I said that, I was kind of saying how good I thought OKC was. Um, cuz I did, you know, push back on them a lot last season, I thought they were too young to get it done. Um, and I even spoke about in the playoffs where I thought if Denver was healthy that they would could have beat them. But that’s no knock. That’s a part of basketball. People get hurt and you play what’s in front of you. But, you know, I’m I think you got what I was what I was trying to say. Like you you you have to try to get this team in the playoffs. If you’re expect if you’re if you’re game planning for OKC in the regular season, you’re kind of wasting time. You should probably just look forward to the next team. You know what I’m saying? Let’s just go ahead and get this ass whooping and let’s get out of here. Yeah. Let’s just play hard, fellas. Let’s Hey, fellas, let’s play hard, you know? Oh, hey, the the order. Hey, 30. If you’re if you’re 33 and up, just rest. You know what I’m saying? But I think like Denver’s a good example where they could they could figure out some things in the regular season, but in the postseason in a potential series that that they could lock in and and try and I knew exactly what you’re trying to say, Ox, but I’m not surprised that people misinterpreted. Well, Damon, to your point, I mean, if you look at this Oklahoma City team, if I got a whole week, this is where I am. I ain’t worried about Toronto in two nights. I’m not concerned with Utah. I’m not concerned with any other team. My focus is, okay, how do I keep SGAA on the right side of the floor? How do how do I keep Hartinstein? How do I keep Hartinstein on the right on the on the on the in the corner on the right? Because I know he likes to shoot that floater. He’s really good in the middle, but he’s not as good on the baseline on the right side of the floor. How do I keep him over there and I got a week to focus on that? How do I keep Kase Wallace away from the break on the right side of the floor as opposed to at the top of the key or getting to the rim? And I got a whole week to focus on that as opposed to basically 12 hours while we’re playing Chicago two nights ago. So I I I think it’s a lot I definitely think it’s a lot different. However, I think Oklahoma City smokes the Lakers in the game series. I think dudes, but I don’t like this point that keeps being made about Denver and how oh my goodness, they took him seven games last year with a hurt MPJ and Aaron Gordon and yada yada yada. Okay, got that. Cool. And it’s perceived that Denver has gotten better because of new players. And is it also perceived that OKC in my opinion whoever makes that argument is saying well maybe they’re relatively the same team from last year but I would pose an argument in we forget how young some of these players are for OKC. So internal development can usurp you getting new players on the team. What if Chad’s just better cuz now he’s a year older. What if JDub comes back and he’s a better player? He’s 24 years old. Shay may be better this year than he was last year because he’s in his prime right now. Like there are some things that I I don’t know that it’s like, oh, Denver, they were close. They got some new players. Now this is somewhat of a conversation. In my opinion, I don’t know if we can watch OKC smack everybody in the regular season and then think or come to a conclusion that now Denver can can mess with him in a seven game series. Like in my opinion, that is I don’t think that’s going to happen. I think OKC is going to run. We’ve seen that though, real talk. We’ve seen teams get busy in the regular season and then they run up on a they run up on a on a bad team or I’m sorry, a bad matchup and they proceed. you you watch them and you go the blue team is better than the white team. Even though you’ve seen them throughout the course of the regular season and they’ve been basically handling everybody. The Memphis Grizzlies were a prime example of that in 2022 when they were handling everybody. I think they they finished with the two seed that year and they ran up on that Laker team and Anthony Davis made Jiren Jackson look like he should not be out there. Completely dominated that series defensively. Completely kind of like how Harrison Barnes was making them look at certain points last night. Yes, we we we are we are definitely going to get to that. We we we we’ve we’ve seen teams in the regular season get busy and we’ve the Houston Rockets, they won a bunch of games, even though we knew that offensively there was some problems. There was there were a bunch of different problems, but then they run up on a they they run up on a on a Golden State Warriors team that gives them hell that that ends up giving them hell. And that series would would have actually been over quicker had Jimmy Butler not been had Jimmy Butler been in the lineup earlier. That I think that series would have been over. I think that’s a fair point, Chill. But I do think that this is a different team. Like OKC is different than that Memphis team was. But I think that’s a fair point. My thing is, and I’ve I’ve been kind of trying to say this for a little while. I just don’t believe the same way that a lot of y’all believe about the playoffs. Like to me, I I know y’all say, “Well, the playoffs is harder because the game slows down, the defense, or the whatever.” You know, it’s a lot of reasons why y’all say. I think for some basketball players, that’s easier. Some basketball players would prefer to play in a half court. some, you know, so I I think it’s I think it might be different. Some some coaches Some coaches are better at coaching when they get to get into their X’s and O’s and and get to decipher defenses. Some coaches are better when they know who they’re going to play a week before and they know we’ll play them on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Sunday, and see them again on Wednesday. Some coaches get that’s to me that’s now we really hoping, you know? So, it’s like I I don’t I don’t look at it as the playoffs are just harder. You know what I’m saying? It’s it’s it’s it’s hard to beat a team four four times, but it’s hard to lose to a team four times, too, unless you’re just it’s a huge game. You just outline all the reasons why the playoffs are hard, though. Way I don’t But I don’t But see, I don’t But see, I don’t I don’t look at it that way. I I think that makes it easier. Cuz what you what you explain is like some of the fluff of the regular season like the you know some things we can’t game plan for like you can get that off in the regular season cuz we can’t sit there and scheme you as detailed but once you do get like more detailed on the team it that just objectively doesn’t that make it harder for the other team to play you? Well some people thrive. Well no but that’s but that that’s what I’m saying. So for for me, real talk, I really I really enjoy just coaching just at at all levels, any level. I just I enjoy that part of it. I enjoy the scheming part. I enjoy the night before. I enjoy scouting. Like I enjoy watching game watching teams like I might go to a tournament and the you know the my my team might be at the hotel. I’m going to go to the gym and just check out who we’re playing tomorrow. I I enjoy that part of basketball. So to me, I’m looking at it like and and and I know that, you know, there’s coaches in the NBA that are there for a reason. You know what I’m saying? So I’m definitely not trying to compare me to that, but at the same time, it’s like when I look at it that way, I don’t I I and I’ve just always pushed back on the fact that the that playoffs are just so much harder than the regular season. I think some I think some people I think it just depends on your your style of coach and style of play. So my thing is is I don’t think it’s always harder, but once again, real talk, I think it’s I can see you on one day, a East Coast team, a West Coast team, we play each other twice in the season, right? So it’s like the depending anything can happen. I might we might be a better team, but anything can happen. Y’all might just come and just spank us real quick for for whatever reason. But when we get to the playoffs and things settle down, it’s really it it’s you know what I mean? Things change. And I don’t know. I just look at it both ways. Like I I can see I can see it both ways. I can But I think I think Chill I think Chill and and Real Talk to I think both your points are true. I think that Chill’s point in Denver being the most vulnerable in a playoff series uh sorry OKC being the most vulnerable in a playoff series when you can lock in is true. I think that that’s definitely going to be true. Like teams aren’t scouting at 2 a.m. and they’re landing in a new city and trying to do a scout for for that for that same night. But real talk to your point that’s also true that I think OKC are just better this year because they’ve had the internal growth. They they added AJ Mitchell. You know, the game slowed down just a tiny bit more for Shay. CET’s coming into his own. Um some of these role players are getting expanded roles because Lou Dort and Jub aren’t there. So that’s going to help them down the line. There’s so many different things that you can point to with this OKC team. Doesn’t matter if the league’s gotten better because internally they might have already gotten ahead of that curve. Um, so I think that both things can be true at the same time, but I I agree. They’re going to run through the regular season and then in the playoffs, we’re going to see. Real talk. Oh, go No, go ahead. Chill. I All I wanted to say was like I enjoy the chess game of basketball. You know what I’m saying? Like like that’s that’s that’s my happy place. You know what I mean? I think it’s crazy that you like that that you think that the regular season and the in the playoffs aren’t really that much of a difference. I mean, that’s what No, I think I think they are different. I just don’t necessarily think the playoffs are harder. That’s what I’m talking about. like that. I I think that’s bugged out to think that the playoffs aren’t more difficult than the regular season. Ox, you do know if we lose, we out. My season is over. There’s a more there’s an added pressure to me. This isn’t January where we lose today and then we get to play two nights later. If we lose and we’re out and I’m the guy and I suck, I got to listen to that for the entire rest of the spring and the summer. If I What you What you’re talking about is the stakes. So you’re you’re talking you’re talking about the stakes. You’re talking you’re you’re talking about what’s at stake. Stakes matter. Ox. Yeah. That Yeah. After it’s done. You know what I’m saying? You’re you’re talking about what’s at stake. I’m talking about what’s more difficult. Y’all do y’all do understand that the what’s the the biggest reward doesn’t always come from the hardest journey. Not not at all times. Like that’s that’s just not how it always works. Okay. You can My PCO run was easy as hell. That’s Yeah, you can you can we can we can all get to all all of us can get to a certain place in a different way. Your road might be harder than my road, but I mean when you talking about the playoffs I’m not showing up Mars. I’m not showing up. I just think that when we talking about I think that I I think the level of competition it increases. I mean, my best friend to this day, he told me, “I saw Luan in January. Then I saw him again when the playoffs started. These were two different people. This wasn’t the same dude that I saw when I saw Clyde Drexler in the playoffs. This ain’t the same Clyde Drexler that I saw in February. These were two different guys. They turn it on. They play a different way because one, the stakes are higher. reputation, legacies, my game, all of that stuff is at stake. Now, the idea of scheming and ox, it sounds like you’re oversimplifying it. Well, you know, the same thing that I did when I beat you in January, I can do the same thing in April. What the hell? This is basketball at the end of the day, right? That’s not what I’m saying, Ch. It sounds like this really shouldn’t change. It It’s It’s not that much difficult. I already handled you a month ago before the playoffs started. So, now I get you when the playoffs started. What should I do different? There’s nothing that I should do different. I should I should be able to do the same thing. No question about it. But and I and I I do got to get back to the crunch time chat. So, but I do want to ask you this though, Chill. You mentioned Hakee. You mentioned Clyde. Sure. Do you think maybe it got easier for Clyde? Maybe it got easier for Keem. Do you think maybe they was like, “Okay, yeah, that was cool, but now we now I’m for real. That’s what I was going to say. That’s the page.” No, it didn’t get easier for them because they’re older at that point. That’s why they had to do what they were doing in the regular season in order to get to that point. And once they got to that point, they tried to turn it on, which ultimately didn’t work because they got bounced in round one. They didn’t lose. They got bounced. Okay. No doubt. No doubt. Can Can I Can I Can I say this? I just Yeah. Yeah. Go ahead. Cuz this this this will probably just turn into a segment segment of its own and then Yeah. Because I I do actually um I find this conversation pretty intriguing actually. I think it’s harder, but that doesn’t mean that like you don’t enjoy the harder version of basketball. Like I to me that’s what just what it sounds like. You just enjoy making the adjustments and scheming and flying on the team. And you know, there are definitely coaches that probably agree with you on that. For a player, I’ll say it’s definitely harder, but again, they may enjoy the harder version of basketball. The player that has clicked into my mind now that we’ve been having this conversation is LeBron. Like LeBron once we got to like second stink Cleveland LeBron, it wasn’t really about the regular seasons anymore. Everybody knew that. He got a little lazier during regular seasons. There wasn’t going to be a closeout he would make probably in 2018 that he would have made in 2012. But once he got to the playoffs, it was like, now the intensity goes up. This is the harder version of basketball, but guess what? When I get here, I’m better at this version than everybody else in the world. But that that effort goes up in the playoffs. So, it is harder, but some players are just better at it. And I just think we get to find out who you are, Oxen. Come playoff time, I get to find out who exactly you are as a coach, as a player. I just get to find out who you are and what you really made of come playoff time. I’ve I’ve never heard a player say that the regular season is harder than the playoffs. Never heard that. I could have swore I’ve heard uh if if I have heard it, it’s from a role player. They’ll say that the regular season is harder, but it has nothing to do with like the game. It’s usually with like like you said the wear and tear their role maybe. Yeah. [Music]

The Panel debates why a fully healthy Los Angeles Lakers team is simply a tougher matchup for the Oklahoma City Thunder in a seven-game playoff series. The Panel analyze how playoff adjustments, matchup hunting, and veteran experience give the Lakers a decisive edge when teams have time to prepare. From defensive versatility to offensive mismatches, the Lakers’ strengths become magnified in a long series.

🔴 Full Episode: https://youtube.com/live/rIRyaERnwJ0

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