Los Angeles Lakers head coach JJ Redick said on May 4 that the Oklahoma City Thunder are one of the greatest teams ever in NBA history, as his team prepares to face them in the next round of the playoffs. The Lakers advanced after defeating the Houston Rockets, despite missing key players Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves for part of the series.
Redick acknowledged that advancing further in the playoffs brings greater challenges. He said, “Each individual guy has had some level of playoff adversity and had to build a scar tissue or confidence and the ability to work through that. I think each group has to do that. It was a hard fought series against Houston. I think every level you go up in the playoffs it gets harder. That’s just the reality. We’ve talked the last three weeks about elevating, we have to elevate even more.”
During Sunday’s practice, Redick discussed statistics comparing this year’s Thunder with historic NBA teams such as the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls and 2015-17 Golden State Warriors: “We saw a stat in our morning meeting this morning of teams that have had back-to-back, or even more than that 10 or more better net ratings in consecutive seasons. You’re talking about the 95-96 Bulls, the 96-97 Bulls and then the 15-17 Warriors. You’re literally talking about two of the greatest teams of all-time. I said to a bunch of people yesterday off-site that were talking about this series to me I said, ‘The Thunder is one of the greatest teams ever in NBA history.’ That’s just the reality. They are. They’re that good. I think our guys recognize that and respect that and we know what kind of task we have in front of us.”
Oklahoma City enters as favorites after sweeping their first-round opponent, led by reigning Most Valuable Player Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
Redick also praised his team’s resiliency during an up-and-down season: “The Lakers had several ups and downs throughout… but still found ways to come out on top.” He believes this resilience will be important as they prepare for what he called their biggest obstacle yet.