A heavily depleted Lakers team was once again blown out on Tuesday by the Oklahoma City Thunder, 123-87.
LA was down Luka Dončić, Austin Reaves, LeBron James, Marcus Smart and Jaxson Hayes. Despite that, they started the game with a bunch of energy and effort, keeping the game close for the first quarter-and-a-half.
However, water eventually found its level and the Thunder blew the game open late in the second quarter and never looked back.
LA shot an abysmal 14-31 from the free throw line, negating
much of the early effort plays to get to the line. LA never led and trailed by as many as 41.
The Thunder jumped to a quick six-point lead on the shoulders of Chet Holmgren. Drew Timme got the offense going for the Lakers with a midrange floater. After Holmgren put up his fifth and sixth points, LA called an early timeout.
Timme was up to 10 points already for the Lakers, leading the team. At the five-minute mark, OKC was only up by one. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was leading the Thunder with seven points. LA was putting up a respectable fight, keeping the game close.
At the end of the first, the purple and gold were down by seven.
There was a quick Lakers timeout called to start the second period. Out of the break, Bronny James missed his shot attempt, but stole the ball on the other end, leading to a layup by Rui Hachimura, sparking a 9-2 run that tied the game.
OKC jumped back ahead until four straight points from Los Angeles tied it again. Luke Kennard was up to six points.
Alex Caruso drained a 3-pointer to put his team back in the lead. The Thunder turned that triple into a 7-0 scoring run.
Los Angeles’s offense became stagnant, allowing OKC to continue to build on its now big lead. At halftime, Oklahoma was up by 18.
Kennard threw up a lob to Hachimura for a dunk to start the second half, his ninth assist of the game. He also converted on a midrange jumper, giving the team some much-needed life.
Holmgren knocked down a triple to stop LA’s sudden small burst of momentum.
LA, unfortunately, went on a four-minute scoring drought with the Thunder taking full advantage of it to fully blow the game open. The only other exciting things that happened for LA in this quarter were dunks by Thiero and Bronny James.
The final frame began with the Lakers missing a few shot attempts and Aaron Wiggins draining a triple for the Thunder. The rest of the quarter happened.
Key Player Stats
Timme finished with 11 points, three rebounds and two assists. Hachimura notched 15 points with five rebounds. Kennard ended with 10 points and nine assists. Adou Thiero and Kobe Bufkin combined for 19 points off the bench.
Nick Smith poured in 11 points in garbage time.
The Lakers’ next matchup will be against the Golden State Warriors on Thursday at 7:00 PM PT.
You can follow Karin on Twitter at @KarinAbcarians.
