Remember that the Lakers played OKC twice during the past week of the regular season and got
slaughtered, the last game losing both Reaves and Luka to injury. I personally do
not think this was coincidence but the intensity required to simply keep up with the
youth and athleticism of the Thunder took a toll.
The role Marcus plays will be to temper the defensive responsibility of the front court
so LeBron does not lose a leg. Sadly, I would expect more injuries to occur to the
Lakers in this series... and I am not being negative! I'm looking at the
strain-effort coefficient, yeah I made that up, and something's gotta give...
perhaps another hammy. Yikes...
I think JJ's got to give Thiero some run just to take advantage of the super
athleticism that he brings where his presence alone will have an impact. LaRavia is
a workhorse who is gonna be slam dancing with their bigs in an effort to collect their
occasional leavings at best.
What's the key for the Lakers to slow them down? Curb the fast breaks which result from
offensive rebounds, so the Lakers must shoot efficiently to minimize OKC
offensive rebound opportunities, but they also have to position themselves
between OKC and fast break baskets which is likely impossible.
Vando is such a mystery. He's probably the strongest guy on the court and at 6'-10"+,
he ought to have presence which is wholly absent in his game, but as well he can play
power defense against an opponent's point guard. What do you do with a center who
can't score but whose tantalizingly effective defense screams to get more
PT?
So youth, JJ, is critical, and that includes Bronny! He can match up athletically with
nearly anyone on the Thunder. Coach has to challenge the capable youth to perform
next level by giving that last-two-minutes-and-down-one desperation effort
while in the game. The Lakers' starters simply cannot sustain that, again, they
will injure and exhaust themselves if they try.
