Lakers Are Screwed If Austin Reaves Doesn't Play Like a No. 2

With Luka Dončić out, at least for the start of the series, the Los Angeles Lakers were already facing a near-impossible task in the second round against the Oklahoma City Thunder.

The Thunder, who won Game 1 of the series against L.A., are younger and more athletic than the Lakers. They have the soon-to-be two-time MVP piloting the offense. They're more defensively tenacious than any team in the NBA.

The Lakers had at best a long shot of overcoming all of the above. But even that characterization would be generous if Austin Reaves plays as he did in the Western Conference Semifinal opener.

Reaves shot 3-of-16 from the field (generating some pretty good Austin 3:16 memes), missed all five of his three-point attempts and had almost as many turnovers (four) as assists (six).

One of the running themes of both this postseason and last is that the more physical, more athletic and more aggressive teams typically win (or at least play with a significant advantage). No team has epitomized that quite like the Thunder.

On Wednesday, whether it came from the first line of defense or the last, they rarely gave Reaves enough breathing room to get a clean shot off. On the rare occasions he got past Cason Wallace or Alex Caruso, Chet Holmgren or Isaiah Hartenstein were able to rotate quickly into his space. Reaves saw multiple hands up on multiple shots.

The turnovers may not have been as big a deal as the box score suggests. The first came on a pocket pass that Deandre Ayton bobbled out of bounds. The pass may have been a little low, but Ayton still should've secured it. The second was a dead-ball turnover after Reaves stepped out of bounds. One was a charge after Reaves escaped some pressure. Only one was a live ball that immediately led to a basket.

But that's still four empty possessions. When you combine that with 13 missed shots from your second-leading scorer in the regular season, it's hard to be anything but doomed against a team as good as OKC.

Against the Thunder, and while playing with a postseason whistle (you know, the kind that lets an awful lot more contact from the OKC defenders go), every possession is crucial.

That's why, going forward, JJ Redick and the Lakers may have to find better ways to get Reaves the ball within individual possessions.

Against most regular-season defenses, allowing Reaves to just go to work as a one-on-one scorer out of the pick-and-roll was a good option. He used over seven possessions per game as the PnR ball-handler, and his 1.0 points per possession out of that play type ranked in the 82nd percentile leaguewide.

OKC allowed only 0.81 points per 100 pick-and-roll ball-handler possessions, which was tied with the Detroit Pistons for the best mark in the league. Their primary on-ball defenders are ferocious. Few bigs can scramble toward a suddenly advantaged creator as quickly and effectively as Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein.

Against this particular defense, one of Reaves' biggest strengths may simply not exist.

So, over the rest of the series, and despite LeBron James potentially being an overburdened 41-year-old, L.A. might have to do more to create off-ball advantages for Reaves. Set screens and work for the switch before he catches the ball. Use him as more of a catch-and-shoot threat like Luke Kennard.

Again, that increases the responsibility on LeBron's shoulders. But even at his age, the experience gap probably makes him more equipped to carry it than Reaves is.

Regardless of how they get it done, the Lakers simply have to have something closer to the regular-season version of Reaves to have a prayer in this series.

In his defense, he's not far removed from an oblique strain. A compromised core can impact just about everything a basketball player does.

But the Lakers are missing 33.5 points and 8.3 assists from Luka. In the regular season, Reaves gave them 23.3 points and 5.5 assists per game (and 33.1 points per 75 possessions when he was on the floor without Luka).

They survived without one in the first round. They simply cannot survive without both in this one.