Late Scoring Surge Not Enough to Push OKC Thunder Over Lakers
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Los Angeles featured a battle of two very different teams on Monday night.
A year ago the Los Angeles Lakers found themselves in the Western Conference Finals – falling just short to the Denver Nuggets — while the Oklahoma City Thunder reached only the Play-In Tournament.
Now the roles in positing have reversed, with the Thunder holding a No. 2 seed compared to the Lakers' No. 11.
Even though both teams are fighting for different seedings at the moment, grabbing a win was important for each side. This time Los Angeles came away with the win, defeating Oklahoma City 112-105.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams carried much of the offensive load for the Thunder, scoring 22 and 25 points respectively. Neither had much help from the rest of the roster, with the vast majority of their teammates having subpar shooting nights.
LeBron James and Anthony Davis proved why they are still one of the league's greatest duos, completing taking over for most of the games. James put up 25 points, seven rebounds and five assists, while Davis put up 23 points, 15 rebounds, five assists, two steals and one block.
Oklahoma City struggled dramatically from behind the arc, taking a total of 46 attempts and only completing 14. It was a nightmare all night, and the missed shots finally took it out of the game for the majority of the second half.
The first quarter was an offensive struggle from the Thunder, but five makes from the 3-point line kept it within one point by the end of it. The Lakers went on a 10-0 run, but Oklahoma City came right back with 7-0 run of its own.
The second quarter found the offense coming alive again, with Gilgeous-Alexander's 16 points leading the pack. James and Davis both kept Los Angeles afloat though, scoring 12 points each in the half and keeping the score tied at 50 a piece.
The third quarter saw a battle between Williams and Davis primarily, as both players continued to go back and forth to put up big numbers. Davis scored 12 points, while Williams added 11 points.
Los Angeles finally broke the game a little bit heading into the fourth quarter, reaching an eight-point deficit.
Even with some huge 3-point makes from Gilgeous-Alexander and Luguentz Dort in the final few minutes of the game that cut the score to just five points, the overarching 3-point struggles prevented it from gaining a win over a struggling Lakers roster.
The Thunder will stay in Los Angeles on Tuesday, taking on the Clippers at 9:00 p.m. CT.
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