The Los Angeles Lakers might feel like Thursday night's contest against the Oklahoma City Thunder is must-win, despite it being the second game of their Western Conference Semifinals series.

What's for sure is that Los Angeles will need a better performance from star guard Austin Reaves if they have any chance of evening the series against the defending champions. Reaves finished Game 1 on Tuesday with just 8 points on 3 of 16 shooting from the field, including 0 of 5 from three-point range. He was 1 of 11 from the field before the fourth quarter, at which point the game was essentially already out of reach.

Los Angeles Lakers guard Austin Reaves (15) | Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images

Perhaps Reaves deserves some slack. After all, he has only recently returned from an oblique injury that kept him sidelined for four weeks.…