The Los Angeles Lakers shocked the world when they took a 58-57 lead into the halftime break against the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 2 of their Western Conference semifinals on Thursday.
It was a shocking outcome, given just how dominant the Thunder have been against the Lakers this season. By completing the second-half comeback with a 125-107 win, the Thunder achieved something no team had since the NBA merger in 1976.
Per ESPN Insights, the Thunder are the first team ever to crush an opponent by 15+ points on five different occasions in a season. This includes Thunder’s three regular-season wins by margins of 29 (Nov. 12), 19 (Feb. 9), 43 (April 2) and 36 (April 7).
“The Thunder have beaten the Lakers by at least 15 points 5 times this season (regular season and playoffs).
“That’s the most 15-point wins in a season for any team against the Lakers since the 1976 merger.”
Lakers Fall to Thunder and Refs
Thunder’s Game 2 win was overshadowed by the officiating controversy, with scores of fans and analysts blasting the referees for favoring the home team.
Things got so out of hand that Austin Reaves, LeBron James and Co. confronted the referees after the game. Reves felt “disrespected” when referee John Goble yelled at him during a jump-ball sequence at the 6:06 mark of the fourth quarter when he was jockeying for position with Cason Wallace. An irate Reaves would cuss out the referee, for which he was surprisingly not hit with a technical foul.
After the game, Reaves explained why he lost his cool.
“When we were doing the whole tip ball when they were switching spots, I wanted to get on the other side because they had a guy on the other side that was just trying to keep an advantage,” Reaves explained, via Cal Post’s Khobi Price.
“And he turned around and just yelled in my face. I just thought it was disrespectful. The whole time that was going on over there, I don’t think he said much to them. I know Ben [Taylor], I think, stepped in and said something.
“But at the end of the day, we’re grown men. And I just didn’t feel like he needed to yell in my face like that. I told him that. I wasn’t disrespectful. I told him if I did that to him first, I would have got a tech. I feel like the only reason I didn’t get a tech is because he knew he was in the wrong. I just felt disrespected.”
Lakers vs Thunder Game 2
With All-Star wing Jalen Williams nearing a return from his hamstring injury, the Thunder open Game 3 as massive 8.5-point favorites despite playing on the road.
ESPN’s Dave McMenamin, though, does not feel it’s all doom and gloom for the Lakers, citing Reaves’ 31-point performance in the 125-107 Game 2 loss.
“Despite being down 2-0, L.A. proved it could hang around for big chunks of both games,” he wrote after Game 2. “It was just a few Thunder blitzes — 11-0 in the first quarter, 22-4 in the third and 14-3 in the fourth — that really sealed the Lakers’ fate.
“With Austin Reaves coming off a career-playoff high 31 points Thursday and LeBron James (23 points on 9-of-18 shooting) and Rui Hachimura (16 points on 6-of-10) staying in rhythm, L.A. will have to prove it can put together four full quarters at Crypto.com Arena if it wants any chance of making this a series.”
Lakers vs. Thunder Game 3 tips off at 8:30 p.m. ET on Saturday.
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