LeBron delivers vintage outing against OKC
The whistle swung Chet Holmgren around while he contemplated the shot he'd just missed.
Less than three minutes into the third quarter of the Thunder's 129-120 loss Saturday, he swiveled toward the bench, shooting an imaginary ball above his head while practicing his form. The same way he'd done while awaiting his pregame workout earlier. The same way he'd done before every game this season. Invisible laces spinning, palm flicking up. In the back of his head, he knew it.
Still, he rehearsed it in hopes it would come to him. Even as the timeout dwindled, he snapped his arm before the nearest hoop and held a follow through.
It never quite came. For Holmgren, for any of the Thunder. It watched an entertaining, back-and-forth first quarter turn into a Los Angeles Lakers shotmaking masterclass.
The night before Christmas Eve, Holmgren's Jack Skellington fingers failed to find the feeling on the ball he carries with him everywhere. His first 3 didn't fall until the fourth quarter. He finished with 19 points on 8-for-18 shooting, going 1 for 6 from deep. The Thunder sank even further.
Its first quarter saw as much action as the Fast and the Furious series; A filthy Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in-and-out and assist, a Rui Hachimura dunk, an abrasive Anthony Davis block, and a buzzer-beating Jalen Williams midrange jumper all followed each other to end the quarter.
The rest of the way, OKC shot 7 for 28 from deep. On the night, it shot 31.7% from 3.
For one of the NBA's most promising, well-oiled offensive machines, a night where it managed 120 points even with a measly performance from 3-point range probably wouldn't have held as much weight. Only if the Thunder hadn't watched LeBron James turn back the clock.
Any whispers of James' longevity withering fell on deaf ears. The soon-tobe 39-year-old posted 40 points, seven rebounds and seven assists on Saturday. On hardwood tailored by Gilgeous-Alexander GQ craftsmanship and in streets run by the young Thunder, James and his Lakers reminded the young Thunder what awaits them down the road.
After a starting lineup change that called for D'Angelo Russell's relegation and Jarred Vanderbilt's promotion, James played de facto point guard among an already overbearing lineup.
Few times has James looked so comfortable this season.
He synced with Anthony Davis to make himself available out of double teams. He punched Herculean dunks. He tallied four quick assists, one of them a no-look pass to Taurean Prince, to begin the second quarter.
“We've seen that movie before,” coach Mark Daigneault said of James. “He was on one tonight.”
It leaked beyond him. The Lakers shot an absurd 16 for 32 from 3. Hachimura leaned into moving midrange jumpers, Austin Reaves added a four-point play. Russell exploded for 12 second-quarter points.
The Thunder scratched its heads at how lopsided the buckets became. At how many of their open looks bounced back toward them, at how the basketball gods shook their fists at them from above.
"We don't wanna be a team that relies on the most variant part of basketball. ... You've gotta build your foundation with something other than just shotmaking," Daigneault said.
Meanwhile, James rested on the reads that've stamped his dominance for two decades. And when the Thunder knocked on the door with six minutes to play, he did much of what's made him famous.
The Lakers forward quickly posted 11 points in the back half of the fourth. Spot-up 3s, and-1 finishes. He finished 13 of 20 and 5 for 5 from deep.
While Holmgren flicked his elbows and wrist, somewhere behind him James extended his forearm and widened his stance. He enacted a move he'd practiced, too — not just for years, but several times Saturday.
James pointed toward the ice that coursed through his veins.
What will the mirror say?
The Thunder hasn't solely depended on its offensive firepower. On the artistry of Gilgeous-Alexander, or the stroke of Holmgren. It's been among the league's best teams in both offensive and defensive rating.
But Lord knows a team as talented as it is offensively will win plenty of games based on shotmaking. It'll sink teams when Jalen Williams plays out of his mind, or when SGA fries a team the way OKC has grown accustomed to.
What about a night as cold as Saturday? What about nights when it links with a team as tall and intelligent as the Lakers and can't find the bottom of the net?
“You can't just walk in the arena and be like, ‘We're not making shots tonight, so let's just lose the game,” Holmgren said.
In a matchup in which the Lakers underscored their already palpable length, their presence intensified once they switched lineups around. By the time they staggered Reaves and Russell, they'd already grown comfortable.
Around the rim, near the middle of the floor.
Perhaps LA's comfortability highlights a long term issue that OKC will be faced with in the postseason. As for Saturday, Daigneault just doesn't want the Thunder to kick its feet up behind its shotmaking.
“I didn't think we had our fastball there defensively in the first half,” he said. “That's what we want our takeaway to be, so that we're looking in the mirror and not just saying ‘it's a make or miss league' or something like that.”
As Gilgeous-Alexander plopped down for his postgame presser minutes later, he sighed before finishing the sentiment.
“It's a make or miss league,” he said. He'd later regurgitated the bullet points Daigneault shot forth — how the team can't rest on its laurels, and how if it wants to truly be a good team, it can't feel safe with its typical shotmaking.
A 18-8 start full of flash and promise and potency might've kept it from turning around a ton. But the Lakers steered the Thunder toward that mirror and forced it to look on Saturday.