LeBron James said the obvious after the Lakers were beaten 108-90 by the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday: without Luka Doncic, the margin for error is shrinking fast. The Lakers lost Game 1 at Paycom Center while reporters were still asking James about a postseason dry spell that has left Los Angeles averaging just 99.6 points per game, lowest of any team still alive in the conference semifinals.
James, who led the Lakers with 27 points on 12-for-17 shooting, pointed directly at the absence of Doncic, who was in the visitors’ locker room while the questions came. “We have a guy that averages 37 a game out,” James said, then added, “Thirty-three-and-a-half. … There’s the issue right there.”
The numbers back him up. Doncic has been out since suffering a Grade 2 left hamstring strain in this same arena on April 2, and the Lakers’ offense has not found a stable answer since. Los Angeles has scored fewer than 100 points in four consecutive games, losing three of them, and its shooting percentage has fallen from 50.2% in the regular season to 46.5% in the playoffs.
That slide showed in Game 1. The Lakers went 10 for 30 from three-point range, getting up 30 attempts from beyond the arc but not enough clean makes to keep pace. Rui Hachimura hit three of six shots from three, while Austin Reaves, back for his third game, went 0 for 5 from distance and finished with eight points on 3-for-16 shooting. He has now gone 2-for-17 from long range in the playoffs.
Reaves said the missed chances started early and never fully went away. “I got to get my spots multiple times and just missed a couple of easy shots,” he said, adding that the Lakers also have to cut down on turnovers and make it harder for the defense to pressure the ball. James said the same thing in broader terms after the game, saying the Lakers had quality looks but could not convert them.
That has been the pattern since Doncic’s injury, and it is why the Lakers’ offense has not looked like the group that helped carry them through stretches of the regular season. Before Game 1, they had leaned on James, hot shooting and defense to cover for the loss. They also had already started to lag offensively in the first round against the Houston Rockets.
Even with that setup, the Thunder still controlled the night. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 18 points and had seven turnovers, a season low and season high, respectively, but Oklahoma City still pulled away and never let the Lakers get closer than 11 points in the fourth quarter.
For Los Angeles, the question is no longer whether James can produce. It is whether the Lakers can find enough offense around him before the series becomes a test of how long one star can keep carrying a team missing its second one.
