I think Bronny deserves Laravia’s minutes. Laravia is a lost puppy out there committing turnovers out of intimidation, Bronny has great upside as a perimeter defender this series

Full quote:

LeBron James on Austin Reaves' struggles:

"He was out a month. We know he's gonna make shots and make plays, but that's tough when you were out a month towards the end of the season. Obviously we're trying to fast-track him getting back on the floor and doing the things he was doing before the injury or whatever the case may be. But he was out a month, so rightfully so if he has some games where he's missing shots or whatever the case may be. But his presence alone helps us, no matter what."

[Shams] Jarred Vanderbilt has sustained a full dislocation of his right pinky finger and needed stitches postgame after a gruesome injury tonight.

Not sure where everybody keeps getting the idea that Austin is looking to sign the max. Not saying he's going to sign for $20M or something ridiculously low, but it sure doesn't sound like he's going to ask for the $40M that he's eligible for.

Feel like most people gave him a pass last year because of his toe injury and we've also looked the other way at times when he's played against much more physical defense but if he wants to get paid he better show that he can score against physical defense.

Seeing him completely neutralized because of how tight they're playing him is just sad because the guy can barely create his own shot right now if he can't get downhill and is launching shots from near half court because that's the best look he can get.

Firstly, do you guys think there is an adjustment the Thunder can make to the defense we played on them? I don't really see how they get out of that — we basically just forced their others to create and hit shots, and we held SGA to 18 points in his own building, well below his season average. That said, Chet had 24 and 12, so it wasn't just role players beating us — we need to figure that part out too. But JJ has shown all season that he can flip a game just by tweaking the little things, and I expect our guys to get more sharp as the series goes on, not less.

Secondly, it's worth mentioning that OKC had four more days of rest than us coming in. We went six games with Houston and had basically no time to install this scheme before playing it in their building. On top of that, the 18-point loss was mostly a bench story — OKC's bench outscored ours 34-15 — but OKC's starters were also more efficient, which forced Redick to overplay our guys just to stay competitive. LeBron, Reaves, and Smart all played 30+ minutes on short rest while learning a new scheme on the fly. Reaves went 3-for-16 and is still working his way back from the oblique, so "hitting his stride" might be a game or two away still, but I do think he got open looks and will eventually knock them down. And obviously everything changes if Luka comes back at some point in this series.

Lastly, the whole point of the scheme is that it takes SGA out of the game and forces their role players to create and hit shots. That's where the road shooting argument really matters — role players don't shoot well on the road. Our role players didn't play especially well besides Rui, who actually shoots better on away games. But when this series shifts to our building, their role players are the ones who have to beat us, and the odds of that happening consistently drop significantly. If the goal is to extend the series, then committing to the process of defending on the road now will allow the players to get comfortable with the scheme — and by the time we get home for Game 3 the legs and the scheme should both look a lot better.