The Oklahoma City Thunder have improved greatly after three seasons of rebuilding and are now one of the top teams in the league. However, their one weakness is rebounding. This was evident on Monday night when they faced the Los Angeles Lakers and were dominated on the boards. Lakers’ player D’Angelo Russell had 26 points and led his team to a 116-104 victory over the second-ranked Thunder in the Western Conference. Russell was aware of the Thunder’s struggles with rebounding, as seen in their previous game where the Phoenix Suns’ Jusuf Nurkic grabbed a career-high and Suns’ franchise record of 31 rebounds. This weakness has become a problem for the Thunder, as even a team like the Lakers, who are not known for their rebounding abilities, were able to take advantage. Despite having Anthony Davis, who is known for his rebounding skills, the Lakers rank 17th in rebounding rate and were still able to outrebound the Thunder. According to Lakers beat reporter Michael Corvo, Russell mentioned how he saw Nurkic’s success against the Thunder and knew that the Lakers could also dominate in that area. It is clear that the Thunder’s weakness is starting to have a negative impact on their performance.
Thunder: D’Angelo Russell slaps OKC with harsh reality after Lakers’ dominance
