The Oklahoma City Thunder crashed the Lakers’ party. The Purple and Gold had won four of their last five. Just in their last game against the Cavaliers, several Lakers members celebrated personal accolades. The Thunder brought them back down to Earth. The loss against the reigning champions was loud, and stunning.

The Lakers couldn’t hide behind anything. The Thunder beat them 139-96. They handed the Lakers their worst loss of the season, after they had the best month of the season in March. Austin Reaves, who scored a team-high 15 points saw just one reason behind the Lakers’ exposing loss.

“They beat the s–t out of us. They’re defending champs, we’ve got to be better. I don’t know. Losing always sucks, no matter if we lose by 1, or by 50. A loss is a loss. It’s kind of how I look at it,” Reaves told reporters.

The Lakers have lost games, like every other team in the NBA. However, the Thunder in particular have stolen their hearts. Tonight, they kept them to under 100 points and forced 18 turnovers. Moreover, OKC’s defense nullified the Luka Doncic threat, holding him to just 12 points before his injury.

The Lakers are now 3-0 against the Thunder this season. Each loss to the defending champions has felt more draining. The Lakers have lost by an average of 27 points to the Thunder over their season series. They also average under 100 points per game against the Thunder. That’s a feat only the Boston Celtics share with OKC.

They will have a chance to set things right. The Purple and Gold will face the Thunder again after taking on the Dallas Mavericks. However, there’s a good chance that the same theme repeats again. Austin Reaves was among the players to pick up an injury in the clash.

The Lakers struck with injuries at the worst time

Austin Reaves experienced discomfort in his back against the Thunder. Lakers head coach JJ Redick spoke about the nature of the ailment. Redick said the Lakers star “felt something like intercostal, somewhere in his back, in between the ribs,”. But good news, AR15 managed to prevail past the pain.

After the game, he offered a positive update. “I went back to get a rebound, overextended a little bit, and I felt something. But I feel decent right now, so we’ll see,” said Reaves.

Sadly, the same can’t be said about the Lakers’ centerpiece. Luka Doncic appeared to have suffered a non-contact hamstring injury. The Slovenian immediately went to ground. Doncic was devastated since he felt some discomfort before the second half against the Thunder. The injury aggravated, forcing the six-time All-Star to exit the game.

Questions were raised on head coach JJ Redick for keeping Luka Doncic in the game. The Lakers were down by more than 30 at the break. Redick explained that the Lakers medical staff worked on the injury and cleared Doncic for play. Neither him nor anyone on the Lakers felt it was a “risk”. But the worst happened. Luka Doncic will undergo an MRI tomorrow to determine the severity of the injury.

That’s two of the Lakers’ key stars hobbled with under two weeks left for the playoffs to begin. The franchise will hope neither of the injuries are serious. They continue to fight for the third seed, in hopes to secure home court advantage for the postseason. Do you think the Lakers could do so? Let us know your views in the comments below.