Lakers-Thunder Reaction: LA Gets Dog-Walked By OKC In Measuring-Stick Loss
Jovan Buha reacts to the Los Angeles Lakers’ 121-92 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2025.
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TIMESTAMPS:
0:00 Intro
2:08 Overarching thought: There is a notable gap between LA and OKC
8:58 Notable performers
16:35 Stats of the night (swing factors): 20 turnovers and -2 free-throw advantage
18:46 Takeaway No. 1: This road trip has highlighted LA’s athleticism and defense deficiencies
22:35 Takeaway No. 2: Another LeBron James injury update
23:44 Takeaway No. 3: What I’d like to see from the rest of this trip
26:25 Q&A
1:22:40 Outro
#losangeleslakers #lakers
29 Comments
What I see is definitely athletic limitations.. but I also see a lot of BS effort all around
Luka was mad an his shot selection got bad real fast
We desperately need physicality. We’re honestly soft. And slow at every position
Lakers need to trade some players… they are not athletic enough,they play slow , they have to make moves
What are people watching to send those trade suggestions? Dwight Powell? Goga? Zion for AR? 😂😂😂😂😂
Lakers are good, okc is great.
Trade austin reaves for trey Murphy and herb jones .. period
The defense is terrible and some that comes with will! Ruia looks lost on coverage and Luka and Austin got exposed badly. Missing LeBron on the defensive flow needs a spark!
Out-Coached/Outplayed/Out-Hustled on Both Ends of the Court!!! We are not currently in OKC’s 🌍 World!!! DEN is in Tier 2 and HOU/SAS are in Tier 3!!! We will see where We Fall with a Full Squad in DEC when We face HOU and in JAN when We face DEN then, We get another chance against OKC in FEB.
Side Note – Lauri is the only realistic “Sign & Trade” Option for AR so, We get to see Him on 11/18 & 11/23!!!
AR taking pull up 3s early in the shot clock is bad for the offense. He’s not Luka. I don’t know if Luka is rubbing off on him, or if AR thinks that because Luka can do it, he can do it too. Only one person on a team can do stuff like that. If 2 players start doing that, your offense becomes super inefficient. It’s like a class clown, 1 is enough, 2 is pushing it. Also, AR also dances too much with the ball. As you saw tonight, when the refs let teams play like a playoff game, AR isn’t going to the line for free.
LaRavia insists on never passing to Ayton when he’s open for an easy bucket, and then goes 1v1 with his horrid handles, then turns the ball over or gives the ball to Ayton after dragging his own defender into Ayton’s space. It’s like LaRavia continues to troll Ayton. It’s not just Ayton he does this too though. Sometimes he needs to just pass the ball to the open guy or to the connector so the open guy can get it with the hockey assist. LaRavia pump fakes or tries to dance when the play is there. It’s like dude, do that when the play isn’t there, not when it is there. When your best player can get away with shenanigans, other players start thinking they can just do what they want as well. There is little structure to the offense, and I know JJ has good schemes, his players just have to do their job and make the pass when it is there instead of bailing out the defense by not moving the ball and stalling out their offense, forcing stuff, and turning the ball over or clanking so hard that the opponent gets easy transition buckets.
Luka may be in great shape, but his defensive problem is mental, not physical. Him getting blown by is either a choice to not care about defense, or he’s too slow. Either way, if that’s how it is going to be, the starting line-up can’t be next to a bunch of mediocre defenders. Need a better 2-way starting line-up. Luka also has got to stop settling for so many contested 3s and just run the offense.
Smart needs to attack the basket more, because he seems to make most of his tough floaters. Smart is also starting to slack on defense. It’s hard to hold a whole team accountable on defense, when their best player gets away with it a lot. I’ve seen Vando slacking lately as well.
Once Ayton is not in the Pick n Roll action any longer, he needs to seal his defender off to create a passing window to himself, so that the ball handlers have more options to keep the offense flowing.
We need way more speed in our starting unit. AR/Luka is a slow back-court on both sides of the ball.
The perimeter defense is so trash that Ayton is defending 2 people often, and sometimes he gets into foul trouble because his teammate can’t do their job.
These are just notes from the first half. I turned the game off at half time.
This isn’t New for OG LAker 🟣🟡 Fans – Every Great LAker Team has had Their Nemesis: Magic Showtime LAkers had The Bird Celtics, Kobe/Shaq LAke Show LAkers had The Duncan Spurs, Kobe/Pau LAke Show LAkers had The KG Celtics, LBJ LAke Show LAkers had The Joker Nuggets!!! The Luka LAke Show now have the SGA Thunder and OKC will be a Problem for the rest of The Luka 🟣🟡 LAker Era!!!
Questions: 1) How do We get Better? 2) Is AR the Robin that Batman 🦇 Luka needs to beat OKC?
Lakers only win when they shoot twice as many free throws as their opponents!!! That foul baiting doesn’t work on good teams
I really think we need to trade LeBron and tank and reload for Luka’s window it’s over for this tean
It’s LeBron’s fault he messed up the chemistry because he came back. Oh wait no he didn’t.😂😂😂😂
Breaking news: the team whose top 3 players include Austin reeves and Luka is has athleticism and defensive struggles 😳 who would’ve guessed????
It’s almost like everyone with half a brain has been saying this since January- the “experts” always lagging behind. wtf are you an analyst at if you watch lakers games all day and can’t see the obvious?
PATHETIC
Lakers have 2 of the worst defenders in the NBA starting together in the back court in Reeves and Luka. Unless the other team just misses shots, you aren't stopping anyone who has a guard who has any scoring talent at all. OKC wasn't even good on offense tonight and still put up 121. The Lakers then add LeBaby and you have another bad defender (at this point in his career). Now you have 3 bad defenders starting. Hard to beat good teams with that if those three aren't scoring a ton. The starter center has never been known to be any good. Now that 4 bad defenders. Good luck beating good teams in the playoffs trying to beat them 140-139 every game.
3 or 4 in the West being one of the less athletic teams in the West. Really? You can't make bad defenders' good defenders. You aren't making Reeves, Luka and LeBaby good defenders. If this team isn't scoring 125+ they are winning nothing. Because teams will get whatever they want against them. It's just whether the other team hits those wide-open shots. The Laker were lucky tonight OKC did hit most of those wide-open shots or this would have been a 50 point lose. Baring injuries to the other teams in the West the Lakers will be lucky to be in the 6 top let alone the top 3 or 4. OKC, Denver, Rockets, Wolves, Spurs and even GS are better than the Lakers. Guys like this look at the names on the jerseys and think they are good. What do your eyes tell you. They are not a top 6 team in the West as it sits right now.
Lakers fans getting reminded what Reaves look like against playoff defenders. He cannot be a #2 against any decent championship contender. For the years to come as Wemby gets better and OKC is running on all cylinders, Reaves better be your 4th best player if you want to even compete with these teams. If they give him a 40+ million dollar contract you can kiss our future goodbye.
Realistically noone is stopping OKC (barring a catastrophic injury), except maybe the Nuggets. But otherwise?
The key to good team is not 3 and D, it’s 3 & Dirty.
🤬🤬🤬🤬 If Luka was such a “killa,”or had “Mamba Mentality,” then he would’ve took on the OKC challenge but instead he choked. When he was with Dallas in the finals his team had a top defense like OKC and he still choked in the finals. Maybe he just chokes just like AR and can’t handle physicality. Either way if we want to win Rob needs to get more defensive/two way players or just be content with Luka being a glorified Carmelo Anthony, I hope that he grows out of this phase because we care about winning championships here in Lakeland we don’t care about MVPs
You never know which Lakers will play the game.The hardest thing to do for JJ is how to have professional basketball players instead of tourists.I have doubts that AR is reliable 3rd option.Which pushes him into tradeble bunch.The defense is mainly an effort.Run,guys,or say that you can't.Without running and jumping it won't work.We are not interested in highlights.
I think that Luka needs to take a page out of Lebron book..He doesnt know when to get his guys in the game. He thinks score first pass second. As a point guard that has the ball in his hands thats not always the best formula game to game
Vando rui maxi Gabe Dalton all dead weight
Thunder Up!! ⚡️
Ayton doesn’t play with enough effort.
Why hasn’t Rob traded Gabe, Kleber, or Knecht yet? We need 3&D wings. KCP, Terrance Mann, Haywood Highsmith, Royce O’Neale, and Jordan Goodwin come to mind as realistic trade targets and probably won’t have to give up a first. Lol, can’t just sit on your hands all season and hoping that you can get Jokic or Giannis in a blockbuster trade midseason. The chances of that happening is less than 1%. Even chances of getting Wiggins, Herb, or Brooks is low. Have to be willing to upgrade roster even if it’s just smaller moves to go all in. Prime Luka and 40 year old Bron want to win now. Our top 7 is arguably the best in league, but we need to strengthen the rest of our bench. Marcus and Jake have been awesome.
@24:53 not sure if they will actually decide to rest guys on Saturday against Bucks after losing against the Thunder, but i do think it will be stupid to rest guys just because its a back to back, and it shouldn't be the norm for the entire season.