LeBron James goes full UNC as he chastises OKC Thunder kid behind Lakers bench

The Los Angeles Lakers are hoping they haven’t met their match in the second round of the playoffs against the Oklahoma City Thunder, but they are facing an uphill battle the rest of the way after dropping the first two games of the series.

The Thunder successfully defended their home court in front of their fans in Games 1 and 2, and in the second game, one of those fans appeared to exchange words with Lakers star LeBron James.

The Thunder used a strong second half to put the Lakers away in Game 2 en route to a comfortable 18-point victory. That came after they also beat the Purple and Gold by 18 in Game 1.

L.A. remains without star guard Luka Doncic, a massive blow to its chances of competing with the defending NBA champions. Doncic has missed the entire postseason for the Lakers, who were also without star guard Austin Reaves for much of the first round.

That has left James in a position where he’s had to carry a heavy load, and he’s done an admirable job of that despite being 41 years old and counting. In the first round, he scored at least 25 points in four out of six games, and he’s averaging exactly 25.0 points per contest through two games against OKC.

Overall this postseason, the future Hall of Famer is averaging 23.6 points, 6.1 rebounds and 7.8 assists per game while shooting 47.3 percent from the field and 32.5 percent from 3-point range.

Since no team in NBA history has won a playoff series after falling into an 0-3 hole, the Lakers essentially need to win Game 3 in order to keep their hopes alive. The good news for L.A. is that it hasn’t played or lost a game at home yet in the second round, so there is still a path forward.

James, whose future remains a question mark as the Lakers navigate this playoff run, will do his best to get his squad back in the mix when Game 3 takes place on Saturday. A win in that one would give L.A. a chance to even the series in Game 4 on Monday.