Luka Dončić ended with 19 points, seven rebounds, seven assists and two steals. Austin Reaves scored 13 points with five rebounds and three assists. Marcus Smart had nine points and two steals. Rui Hachimura
notched 13 points with five rebounds. Deandre Ayton had six points and five rebounds.
The Lakers jumped to a quick four-point lead early thanks to Luka and Ayton scoring. After the Thunder answered, Hachimura knocked down a 3-pointer to give LA a five-point lead. It was erased as soon as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander started heating up, scoring seven points. Los Angeles was suddenly down by five.
Oklahoma City had been on an 11-0 scoring run. The Lakers were fumbling with the ball quite a lot, leading to five turnovers, while the Thunder had zero.
The rest of the quarter was rough for the purple and gold, who couldn’t find any offensive consistency and struggled to get stops. OKC were up by 12 at the end of the 1st.
Los Angeles’ offense remained stagnant to open the second period. The lone points they were able to score were free throws. The lead continued to extend for the defending champions.
Smart finally broke what turned into an embarrassing eight-minute field goal drought with a 3-pointer with 4:12 left in the quarter.
Former Laker legend Alex Caruso added salt to the wound with a big 10 points off the bench for the Thunder. At halftime, the purple and gold were down by 32.
OKC’s massive lead continued to balloon, so the third quarter was a nice 12 minutes of cardio for LA, sprinkled with a couple of points that didn’t result in anything positive for the team.
The final frame started with the Lakers going on a 9-2 scoring run. It wasn’t enough to mount a miracle comeback, so the bench was emptied. Unfortunately, the Lakers’ bench continued to struggle scoring and were unable to significantly reduce the lead the Thunder had built.
Key Takeaways:
If you’re a fan of a team that has a bench that can score big and help the starters, what’s that like? We don’t know what it’s like here in the land of purple and gold. Our starters being our only hope for most games is a disaster.
The Lakers’ next matchup is Friday against the New Orleans Pelicans at 5:00 PM PT.
You can follow Karin on Twitter at @KarinAbcarians.
