LeBron James on the two big issues the Lakers need to focus on

[ASFN Admin]

The Los Angeles Lakers have several issues they need to resolve if they are going to get back into their Western Conference semifinal series against the Oklahoma City Thunder. They trail the series 2-0 after losing Game 2 125-107, and while they have done a good job of containing Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, they have a lot of work to get done.

In Game 2 on Thursday, they committed 21 turnovers, mustered just four fast-break points and allowed the Thunder to shoot 55.6% from the field. Even worse, they gave up 17 second-chance points, which further complicated their efforts to consistently get stops.

LeBron James, who had 23 points and six assists, singled out defensive rebounding and limiting second-chance points as the two big areas Los Angeles needs to focus on.

“I think tonight we did a good job with our first defense,” James said. “But we gotta clean glass and do a better job with that. We let Chet [Holmgren] get some offensive rebounds and some putbacks, either get to the free throw line or get some putbacks. Versus a team like that, you can’t give up second-chance points. We did a great job in the Houston series as the series went on of getting better at that. We gotta do a good job of hitting and not allowing them to get second-chance points.”

In the regular season, the Thunder were just 23rd in second-chance points per game, but so far in the playoffs, they're first in that category, as well as third in offensive rebounding percentage. The Lakers, meanwhile, are 14th out of the 16 teams that made the playoffs in defensive rebounding percentage so far in the postseason.

If they don't do a better job on the boards, limit their turnovers and win the possession battle, they could end up getting swept by the defending NBA champions in a hurry.

This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: LeBron James on the two big issues the Lakers need to focus on

Continue reading...