The Los Angeles Lakers closed out their road trip with a tough test on Thursday night, taking on the Oklahoma City Thunder in the second game of a back-to-back.
The Lakers were severely shorthanded in this one as Cam Reddish and Jaxson Hayes joined Rui Hachimura, Gabe Vincent and Jarred Vanderbilt on the inactive list. LeBron James and Anthony Davis were able to play despite it being a back-to-back, but that didn’t matter as the Thunder were the fresher team and wound up coming away with a 133-110 victory.
L.A. finished its road trip at 2-2 and will head back home with a 11-9 record.
Despite being shorthanded in the second of a back-to-back, the Lakers got off to a quick start in this one. Davis was going right at Thunder rookie Chet Holmgren, picking up two early fouls on him, and James and Taurean Prince both connected from deep to give the Lakers an early lead. Max Christie and D’Angelo Russell also go in on the action from deep to make the lead double-digits at 27-16.
Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander going going to end the quarter, so the Lakers’ lead was cut to 37-30 going into the second.
Oklahoma City continued its run into the second quarter with Davis on the bench. They eventually tied it and took a 48-46 lead, forcing Darvin Ham to take a timeout.
LeBron got going offensively out of the timeout by attacking the basket. The Lakers got careless with the ball though and also couldn’t stop fouling, allowing the Thunder to build their own double-digit lead.
L.A. wasn’t able to put a run together to end the half as fatigued set in on the second of a back-to-back, and the Thunder were able to take a 72-60 lead into the locker room.
Davis continued his aggression for the Lakers to begin the third quarter, the only problem was that no one else seemed to be matching him.
Meanwhile, Gilgeous-Alexander kept attacking the paint and no one of the Lakers could stop him. And after a quiet first half, Holmgren got going, even connecting on a triple to extend the Thunder lead to 20 at 108-88 going into the fourth quarter.
If the Lakers were gonna make a run, it would had to come early in the fourth quarter. The Lakers are famous for their comeback attempts that fall just short, although that wasn’t even the case in this one as the Thunder were able to maintain their lead throughout to pick up the victory.
Have you subscribed to our YouTube channel? It’s the best way to watch player interviews, exclusive coverage from events, participate in live shows, and more!
