The Lakers were bludgeoned from the opening tip of Thursday’s showdown with the Thunder, falling behind by double digits minutes into the game and trailing by as many as 45 en route to a 139-96 loss.
Turnovers plagued the Lakers from the jump, allowing OKC to jump ahead early. The Thunder shooting an incredible 53.9% from the field and 45.2% from three with 17 makes certainly only made matters worse.
An injury to Luka Dončić in the third quarter only made matters worse as he left the game with a left hamstring
injury and did not return.
Luka got his shot attempt blocked to start the game and on the other end, Isaiah Hartenstein converted on an alley-oop. The Thunder went up by seven early, led by their defense. They had back-to-back steals that led to four quick points for Lu Dort.
Luka knocked down a pair of free throws, which were the only points LA had scored so far. Dort was cooking for Oklahoma with 14 points.
Offense continued to be a massive struggle for Los Angeles as they shot an abysmal 14% from the field, while OKC shot 61%.
Shai-Gilgeous-Alexander ended the quarter with eight points. Luka ended with five points. At the end of the first, LA was down by 23.
The Thunder turned the ball over to start the second period, but Los Angeles missed its shot attempt. On the other end, Jared McCain converted on a layup. Things kept getting worse and worse for the Lakers, who just couldn’t find any offense or put together any kind of decent defense.
At the 8:14 mark, LA was down by 32.
Reaves and Luka were the only two players on the Lakers in double figures with 12 and 10, respectively. LeBron James was 0-2 from the field, but did have six points from free throws. Despite the teeniest of tiny signs of life with eight points scored as the quarter wound down, Los Angeles was down by 31 at halftime.
Oklahoma City continued its thrashing of the Lakers well into the third period. Luka still hadn’t reached 20 points, while SGA had 26 points.
At the 7:39 mark, Luka went to the locker room with his injury, taking things from bad to worse.
The Lakers did look livelier in this quarter, but Isaiah Joe came in and launched two straight triples that basically put the absolute finishing touches on a disastrous game for the purple and gold as OKC went into the final frame up 45 points.
The fourth quarter happened.
Key Player Stats
Luka finished with 12 points, four rebounds and seven assists before exiting the game. LeBron ended with 13 points, six rebounds and two assists. Reaves had 15 points with four rebounds. Deandre Ayton logged eight points.
The Lakers’ next matchup will be against the Mavericks on Sunday at 4:30 PM PT.
You can follow Karin on Twitter at @KarinAbcarians.
