Skills Science: Dissecting three elite plays from the Lakers’ beatdown against the Thunder

The Lakers continued their dominance to open the season with a 128-99 thrashing of the Oklahoma City Thunder, improving their road record to 7-0 for the season (and setting a Lakers record for most road games to open a season without a loss). Continuing the theme from their previous victory over the Rockets, the game’s outcome was all but determined by the end of the first half.

Every Lakers game right now is filled with an assortment of superb plays, and this one was no exception. In the following video — using my background in sports science, movement, and coaching — I dissected three elite plays and skills the Lakers displayed through the lens of biomechanics, movement patterns, basketball technique and the “mental side” of the game.

Let’s take a closer look:

My goal is to produce these “Skills Science” segments after the majority of games this season (and ideally after each game — hey, a man can dream, can’t he?) and hopefully they provide a little more detail about the technical aspects of movement, skills and the game of basketball itself.

In the meantime, what were some elite skills, plays and details that stood out to you? Let me know in the comments below this post.

Dr. Rajpal Brar has a doctorate in physical therapy from Northern Arizona University, and runs his own sports medicine and performance business, 3CB Performance, in West LA and Valencia, CA. He also works at a hospital — giving him experience with patients in the immediate healthcare setting and neurological patients (post stroke, post brain injury) — and has been practicing for 1.5 years. Brar is additionally training at UCLA’s mindful awareness research center (MARC), and analyzes the Lakers from a medical perspective for Silver Screen and Roll and Laker Film Room. You can follow him on Twitter at @3cbPerformance.