Austin Reaves speaks after losing game three against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
The series between the Los Angeles Lakers and Oklahoma City Thunder shifted to Los Angeles for game three, but not much changed for the Lakers.
Much like game two, the Lakers played well in the first half, taking a small lead into the locker room after 24 minutes. And much like game two, the Thunder started to pull away in the third quarter before pushing their lead all the way to 27 in the fourth quarter, easily putting the game away.
The loss put the Lakers down 3-0 in the series, with all three losses coming by 18 points or more.
No team has ever come back from being down 0-3 in a playoff series, and only four teams have ever been able to force a game seven.
Austin Reaves Speaks
Though the Lakers are down, they are not technically out.
Speaking after the game, Austin Reaves explained the message in the locker room after the team fell in game three.
"We just come and compete. There are a bunch of guys in this locker room that are competitors. Basically, the message atfer the game was, 'We're going to come in here Monday and we're going to get a win.' Obviously, the situation sucks, but that doesn't give us the license to quit. We have to come in here and compete. We owe the organization and our fans that," said Reaves.
Reaves struggled in game three, finishing with 17 points on 5-13 shooting and 1-5 from three. He had nine assists, but five turnovers. In the three games in the series, Reaves is averaging 18.7 points on 40% shooting from the field and 25% from three.
Finding A Way
Before they can win four games, the Lakers have to win one game. There were encouraging signs in the first halves of games two and three, but have been outplayed in the second half of both games.
After much referee discourse following game two, including the Lakers having a center court meeting with the refs after the game, the team seemed to benefit from the whistle in game three.
They shot 25 free throws compared to just ten for the Thunder, but it didn't matter by the final horn.
While the offense has struggled throughout the series, the defense hasn't been able to contain the ball and the strategy of doubling Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has led to OKC generating easy offense in four on three situations.
For the Lakers to win game four on Monday, they were have to play their most complete game of the series for all 48 minutes.