Apr 6, 2025; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA; Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Doncic (77) runs down the court during the second half against the Oklahoma City Thunder at Paycom Center. Mandatory Credit: Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images / Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images

Sometimes in life, we overcomplicate things. It is human nature, now more than ever, to overthink and try to spit out a reaction as fast as possible without a second thought. The most recent example? Sunday’s clash between the Oklahoma City Thunder and Los Angeles Lakers.

The Purple and Gold outright dominated the Thunder on Sunday inside the Paycom Center, running OKC out of its own gym. That should not be understated; the credit to the Lakers should not be diminished. Regardless of the fact that Oklahoma City has nothing to play for the remainder of the regular season, they put their playoff rotation on the floor. Once the ball is tipped, none of the outside factors matter.

However, while Sunday’s game by no means should be swept under the rug, it also shouldn’t shape the conversation of these two potential playoff foes. Ask yourself, what was your opinion of a playoff series between the Thunder and Lakers on Sunday at 9 AM CT?

For this scribe, it was Oklahoma City pulling out a seven-game series. A six-to-seven game series was the popular pick by anyone who was willing to have a genuine conversation about basketball rather than put on a show for clicks.

The nature of a six-to-seven game series is that it is a coin flip. That either team can win, and on any given night, each team can hold an edge. No matter how lopsided the scoreboard is, it only counts for one win.

To put this into tangible context, look no further than the guy still wearing No. 77, just in different colors. He led his team past the No. 1 seeded Thunder a year ago in a tightly contested six-game series. How did the games play out?

Oklahoma City beat Dallas 117-95 in Game 1 of the second round a year ago against Doncic and company. A 22-point win. It wasn’t enough of a tone setter to pull out the series. The Thunder blew a 17-point Game 6 lead to lose the series and keep Dallas from needing to play a must-win Game 7 in the rockus Paycom Center.

So keep the Lakers 126-99 win against the Thunder in perspective. It was one game, one dominating victory. Both sides are going to hand each other losses in the course of a potential playoff series and some might be ugly. But it is a race to four wins and it typically balances out.

In this game, the Lakers were red hot from beyond the arc, which is not an attempt to kick the can down the road on the Los Angeles win but rather highlights how dominant they were. The biggest reason the Purple and Gold posted 55% from beyond the arc? They generated wide-open looks and navigated through what has been a historic defense thanks to its top three scorers and their role players came through.

If that recipe holds true? the Lakers will be a difficult out for any team, much less just the Thunder.

On the other end of the court, Los Angeles was fully engaged defensively. Its rotations were crisp and physicality unmatched which made life hard on Oklahoma City to the point its offense could not find its footing throughout the course of the 48 minutes.

That is the level of defensive intensity it will take to get a series win over OKC, and that bodes well for the Lakers that they have to level in them as the playoffs draw near.

A lot went right for Los Angeles, they wouldn’t have lost to the ’96 Bulls with that formula. They were the team that came out the hungriest and executed the best.

There are still adjustments Oklahoma City can make, though, and you must avoid the temptation of thinking this is how each play will play out. Just as each game of that Mavericks series was not a blowout win for the Thunder –– far from it.

The biggest thing is that the effort and energy level has to change, which is easy to say but important to actually do. Does it have to change on Tuesday? Sure in a perfect rah-rah world, it would. But in reality, it just has to change next Sunday when the Playoffs begin.

However, there is more to it than that. The double-big lineups seemingly backfired on Oklahoma Cit,y trying to overwhelm the Lakers with size, but instead made the Thunder a step slow in closing out to 3-point shooters and lackluster when switching. For this scribe, Cason Wallace would enter the starting five as a tone-setting defender and offensive play finisher in place of Isaiah Hartenstein as the Thunder can more effectively use each party.

Coupling Wallace’s tone-setting ability with Hartenstein’s fresh legs off the bench to escort the likes of Jalen Williams to the rim with his screen-setting ability makes the starting five and secondary units better. It also improves the Thunder’s defense.

At that point, Chet Holmgren would return to a more natural spot at the five and that comfortability could go a long way in jump-starting his output on both ends. The Thunder fix its perimeter issues with just one big on the floor and blanket the game in 48 minutes of fresh, functional and effective size.

This series would end up going the distance and at that point, it is anyone’s series in a single-game sample size of a Game 7. That perception of the matchup should not change or be clouded by Sunday afternoon’s affair.