The effort was being provided by all the Lakers at a high level and it was being led by LeBron Jamess and Austin Reaves.
But the Lakers are facing the defending NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference semifinals and it is a chore that remains too heavy for Los Angeles.
Advertisement
Even with Reaves recovering to scoring 31 points on 10-for-16 shooting and handing out six assists and James collecting 23 points and six assists, the Lakers still lost Game 2 of the best-of-seven series, 125-107, Thursday night at Paycom Center.
The Lakers trail the series 2-0, with Game 3 back in Los Angeles at Crypto.com Arena on Saturday night.
The odds have now increased against the Lakers winning this series. In NBA history, only 34 teams have recovered from an 0-2 hole to win a best-of-seven series, while 431 teams have gone on to win the series.
The Lakers even did a very good job again on Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, throwing double teams at him to hold the All-Star guard to 22 points.
Chet Holmgren had another strong game with 22 points, nine rebounds, four steals and two blocks and Ajay Mitchell had 20 points for the Thunder.
Advertisement
The Lakers, who had a one-point lead at halftime, went down 13 points at the end of the third quarter, but a James three-pointer pulled them to within 95-89, forcing the Thunder to call a timeout with 8:57 left.
The Lakers even got to within five points in the fourth quarter, but a 10-2 run by the Thunder put L.A. in a 13-point hole with 5:53 left, this time forcing Lakers coach JJ Redick to call the timeout so his players could collect themselves.
The Lakers could not.
A big play was when Reaves took a charge against Shai Gilgeous-Alexander with 10 minutes and 34 seconds left in the third quarter, which was his fourth foul. Gilgeous-Alexander was called for a flagrant foul on the play and Alex Caruso was called for a technical foul.
Advertisement
Reaves shot three free throws, making them all for a 66-61 Lakers lead.
Read more: Frustrated Luka Doncic breaks his silence; doctors forecasted he’d miss Thunder series
Gilgeous-Alexander then took a seat on the bench.
Yet the Lakers were unable to maintain their quality of play against a Thunder team that just kept charging ahead even with Gilgeous-Alexander on the bench.
The Thunder finished the third on an 18-8 run to open a 93-80 lead.
One of the many keys for the Lakers was getting a productive Reaves. It was just his third game back after being out a month because of a Grade 2 left hamstring strain, and it showed. Reaves missed 13 of his 16 shots in Game 1 and all five of his three-pointers, and scored just eight points.
Advertisement
Reaves didn’t make any excuses for his poor play.
“He’s got a great sense of self-accountability to where, you know, he’s his own worst critic and he’s going to hold himself to a standard of how he wants to play,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said. “Had a great conversation with him yesterday and today. He’ll be good to go.”
And Reaves was, scoring 13 points in the first half while handing out assists.
He missed his first two shots, but finished the first half five-for-nine shooting.
Along with James scoring 10 points and handing out five assists, Rui Hachimura scoring 11 and Marcus Smart adding eight while doing his part to slow down Gilgeous-Alexander, the Lakers opened a 58-57 lead at the half.
Advertisement
The Lakers sent defenders at Gilgeous-Alexander often, double teaming the league most valuable player and forcing the other Thunder players to shootin the first half.
Gilgeous-Alexander only took nine shots in the first half and made four.
The Thunder shot just 25% from three-point range in the first 24 minutes.
Note: Lakers forward Jarred Vanderbilt was downgraded out for Game 2 because of a dislocated right pinky finger.
Sign up for our weekly newsletter on all things Lakers.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.