Luke Kennard did not sugarcoat the situation after the Los Angeles Lakers’ 131-108 Game 3 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Saturday night at Crypto.com Arena.
“They’re a really good basketball team. They got a really good coach. There’s not a lot of room for error against those guys,” Kennard said when asked about the defending champions’ ability to adjust mid-series.
Oklahoma City moved to 7-0 in the postseason, continuing a dominant run against the Lakers, and Kennard pointed directly at the consistency gap between both sides. “We know that. Obviously we need to have more awareness going into the next game,” he said.
The Thunder once again flipped the game in the third quarter, outscoring Los Angeles 33-20, a pattern Kennard admitted has defined the series. “Especially that second half, third quarter especially has just been killing us. We know it’s in our minds.”
Los Angeles led at halftime behind efficient shot creation and ball movement, but Oklahoma City’s defensive pressure and transition game quickly erased control. “They’re very good at capitalizing on your mistakes,” Kennard said.
Turnovers became the clearest dividing line in the game. The Lakers allowed 30 points off turnovers, many of them turning into fast-break finishes. “If you’re going to have some turnovers, when that happens we got to get back, find a way to make a play on the ball, try to get a stop. 30 points is way too many,” he said.
Kennard also emphasized Oklahoma City’s roster flexibility as a major challenge for game planning. “When you have a team that can just adjust like that… they need shooting on the floor, great. They need multiple wing defenders, great. It’s just a terrific basketball team.”
Despite the frustration, he pushed back on the idea that adjustments alone are the issue. “It’s definitely on us too. We’ve been there especially in those first halves. We’ve done some really good things,” Kennard said, pointing to how Los Angeles has repeatedly built leads before fading.
The Lakers also generated strong perimeter numbers, shooting 46% from three, but Kennard stressed that execution consistency remains the separator. “We got to be moving without the ball because they’re a really good defensive team. They get their hands on the ball a lot and cause a lot of turnovers.”
Kennard, who scored 18 points in the game, also highlighted spacing and shot selection as positives that can carry into Game 4. “They’ve been giving up some kickout threes. For us as shooters… we got to be ready to shoot because they give up some threes and we got to look to knock them down.”
He pointed to upcoming adjustments as essential for survival in the series. “We’ll get together tomorrow and look at it… we got to come with a sense of pride back on our home court.”
With Oklahoma City one win away from taking full control of the series, Kennard’s message was clear: the Lakers’ margin is gone, and the details are deciding everything.
