Lakers praise Thunder before playoff series: ‘One of the greatest teams ever’.

Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. “... [I]t kind of starts with Shai,” Los Angeles Lakers forward Jake LaRavia said of his team’s need to excel on defense against the NBA’s premier defenders. “We’ve got to do a good job of making everything uncomfortable for him.” (Instagram via shai)

By DAN WOIKE / THE ATHLETIC

There is no point in being disillusioned about what the Los Angeles Lakers have to do, coach JJ Redick said. To keep their season alive, they will have to find a way to beat a team that, he said, is not simply the best in the NBA this year.

“I said to a bunch of people yesterday off site talking about this series, to me, the Thunder is one of the greatest teams ever in NBA history,” he said. “It’s just the reality. They’re that good.

“I think our guys recognize that and respect that, and we know what kind of task we have in front of us.”

Game 1 of the best-of-seven Western Conference semifinals series was scheduled for Tuesday night in Oklahoma City.

There is plenty of respect coming from the Lakers players and coaches for their second-round opponent. Austin Reaves credited Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s three-level scoring and his ability to get to the free-throw line. Jake LaRavia mentioned the Thunder’s incredible depth. Redick praised how disruptive the Thunder defense is in virtually every aspect.

“The reality of their defense is that whatever moments we felt Houston pressuring, like the maximum amount of pressure they put on us, that’s OKC’s base line. That’s their core,” Redick said. “You’re talking about a team that’s, they’re top five in every category that’s disruptive-based: steals, blocks, turnovers forced, all that stuff. And they don’t foul. They somehow do all of that without fouling, which is one of the most remarkable things I think in NBA history.”

The Thunder were called for 1,555 personal fouls this season, seventh-fewest in the NBA. The Lakers were called for 1,517, third least, but were not close to consistently disturbing offenses the way the Thunder did in the regular season and in their first-round sweep of the Phoenix Suns. It is an area, particularly on Gilgeous-Alexander, where the Lakers need to be excellent.

“Just being the more physical team,” LaRavia said. “Again, it kind of starts with Shai. We’ve got to do a good job of making everything uncomfortable for him. He’s a very talented player, can score in, you know, a multitude of ways. So, we just got to do a good job of being physical with him and trying to make him take enough, as many tough shots as we can.”

And if he lives on the line?

“If they call fouls, they’re going to call fouls, but we’ve got to go out there and be the more physical team,” LaRavia said. “So, if that’s how this series is going to be where they’re just going to call a bunch of fouls, I think we’re going to have to live with that.”

The road will be steeper without Luka Doncic, who was the only player not available at practice on Sunday. The team gave no update on his status. But even without Doncic, the Lakers say they have a chance.

“They won it all last year, and you know they’ve been the best team in basketball all this year. So it’s obviously going to be a big challenge,” Reaves said. “You know you can’t go in scared. You have an opportunity to go play basketball. So we’ll have fun.”

The Lakers are even heavier underdogs against the Thunder than they were against the Houston Rockets. That series produced an outcome that surprised most predictors.

“You could say nobody thought we were going to get past Houston, but everybody in this building believed,” Reaves said. “It’s the same mindset going into this. We obviously know the team that we’re about to face and how good they are and the problems that they can create for 48 minutes. So we’ll have to lock in every single day, film, whatever it could be, to continue to get better and pay attention to all the little details like they do.”

For the Lakers, that starts with recognizing what they are facing without giving in to the size of the challenge.

“When you’re coming into any game, regular season or playoff … you can respect the team, but you can’t fear them,” LaRavia said. “You can’t come into the game fearing the opponent and then, you know, you’re just going to come in and get punked. So we respect how good this team is, but, our goal is to win, win the games and win the series.

“So our mindset stays the same when it comes to that.”