Austin Reaves walked into the Los Angeles Lakers' postgame interview room and immediately dispensed with the usual scripted softening of a blowout. The Thunder had just dropped a 139-96 hammer on his team, and Reaves refused to pretend otherwise.
"They beat the [expletive] out of us, but they're the defending champs. We've got to be better. Losing always sucks. It doesn't matter if you lose by one or 50. The loss is a lot," Reaves said.
The Lakers guard went first when accountability came up in the room. Before he talked about the Thunder's defense or the officiating or any of the standard deflections available to him, he put the opening quarter on himself.
"I did a poor job starting the game. I had a couple turnovers back to back and I think I might had four in that first quarter. I just got to do better. Give ourselves a better opportunity to get to a better start," Reaves said.
That cleanest admission set the tone for a Lakers group that has largely played outstanding basketball in the weeks leading into April but ran into a defensive buzz saw in Oklahoma City. Reaves explained what made the Thunder different from other top opponents.
"They have multiple wing defenders, multiple guys that can get up in the ball. They try to speed you up as much as they can. They got great hands. They got great length. It's hard versus a team like that when you're giving up easy turnovers early," Reaves said.
Lakers head coach JJ Redick, speaking after Reaves, pointed to the same unforced errors but also credited Oklahoma City's shooting variance from role players.
"I don't know that there was an immediate moment. When the game started, we frankly had unforced turnovers. They just had a lot more shots on goal to start the game. They made Luguentz Dort shots early," Redick said.
Redick also revealed a second layer to the night that most viewers missed in real time. Reaves had suffered a minor injury during the game that the coaching staff was still monitoring.
"Austin came up on how he's doing. He was in a weird position stretching for a basketball, loose ball, and felt something like intercostal, somewhere in his back in between the ribs. He was able to play through it," Redick said.
The decision to empty the bench in the second half was not an act of surrender, according to Redick, but a calibrated choice once the deficit ballooned. He said the staff had planned the scenario at halftime.
"It was discussed at halftime. We thought we'd give those guys about six minutes and then, if we didn't cut into the lead, we were going to pull them. We won't put players at risk, even in important games," Redick said.
Reaves, however, refused to let the blowout become a referendum on the Lakers' identity heading into the postseason. He returned repeatedly to the idea that the team has been playing too well for too long to recalibrate off one night.
"Just continue to do what we have been doing. I feel like we've been really good recently. Tonight was obviously not what we wanted, but we don't need to overlook the fact that we've been playing good basketball," Reaves said.
He also carried his usual sympathy for Luka Doncic, whose availability for the stretch run has become a weekly question. Reaves said the Slovenian star's competitive fire was not in doubt.
"You wish for the best. Obviously you don't want to see anybody get hurt. As I've gotten to know him the last year and a half — he'll do everything he can to come back when he can," Reaves said.
And on whether a beatdown of this size fractures a locker room, Reaves pushed back hard.
"Nothing has changed. We still will be tested obviously with the head of the snake. Don't want to make no conclusions but we see what happens with him, and then we'll go from there," Reaves said.
For a Lakers team staring at a possible playoff collision with the same Thunder side that just embarrassed them, Reaves' blunt honesty may be the most useful asset the locker room has. He took the loss on the chin and still, in the same breath, reminded everyone that 82 games of form does not evaporate in one night.
