During an impressive 126-99 road victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder in a Sunday matinee, the Los Angeles Lakers submitted an absolute statement win with the postseason looming.
Oklahoma City has now lost back-to-back games for the first time since November.
With the defeat, the Thunder fall to a 64-14 record on the year, still the best in the NBA overall. Los Angeles, meanwhile, helps improve its stranglehold of a top-four West playoff seed.
L.A., meanwhile, improves to a 48-30 record on the year with four games left to play, and creates a bit more separation over the 47-31 Denver Nuggets and the 46-31 Golden State Warriors.
Five-time All-NBA First Team Lakers guard Luka Doncic paced the Lakers with 30 points on 11-of-20 shooting from the field (5-of-11 from long range) and 3-of-4 shooting from the charity stripe, seven rebounds, six assists and two steals in 37:29 of action.
At one point, Doncic absolutely cooked Thunder guard Luguentz Dort,considered a fringe contender to win Defensive Player of the Year honors this season, on an isolation near the elbow.
21-time All-Star forward LeBron James notched 19 points on an efficient 9-of-16 shooting from the floor (1-of-1 from distance), nine dimes, three boards and a steal. Shooting guard Austin Reaves logged 20 points on 7-of-15 shooting from the floor (4-of-8 from distance) and 2-of-2 shooting from the foul line, thre dimes, two rebounds, a steal and a block.
Off the Lakers’ bench, guard Gabe Vincent and forward Dorian Finney-Smith were the stars of the show, submitting efficient double-digit scoring nights (all from long range and the charity stripe) while also playing solid difference.
In the third quarters of games this season, L.A. has developed a bad habit of letting go of the rope recently. Against Oklahoma City, the Lakers actually outscored the Thunder (marginally), 25-21.
The Lakers logged a best season-high 22 triples, tying their single-game franchise record. The Thunder were held under 100 points for just the 12th time this season. Los Angeles did cough up 15 turnovers against the Thunder, who capitalized with 22 points off those turnovers.
Because the Lakers always get the benefit of referees’ whistles, the Thunder played a bit tighter than they normally would. Los Angeles got 17 foul shots to Oklahoma City’s 12. MVP contender Shai Gilgeous-Alexander typically gets to the line pretty frequently all by himself (the 6-foot-6 pro is averaging 7.9 free throws a night, and connecting on 90 percent of those looks) — he had zero foul line shots on Sunday.
The two clubs will square off against each other, in Oklahoma City once again, on Tuesday in this regular season mini-series.
Rookie Lakers guard Bronny James, the 20-year-old son of LeBron, made a cameo in the game’s final 2:16 with the win all sewn up. He scored one 27-foot triple on one attempt and registered one defensive rebound.
Bronny James has played sparingly with the Lakers in his first year as a pro. The Lakers took a flier on the 6-foot-2 guard with the No. 55 pick in the second round of last June’s 2024 NBA Draft, following an up-and-down run as a USC Trojans reserve.
In his 23 games with the Lakers this year, Bronny James is averaging 2.3 points on /.327/.250/.786 shooting splits, 0.6 assists and 0.6 rebounds in 5.9 minutes per.
But he carved up the G League once its regular season started. Across his 11 bouts with the South Bay Lakers — L.A.’s NBAGL affiliate — Bronny averaged 21.9 points on a .443/.380/.815 slash line, 5.3 rebounds, 5.3 assists and 1.9 steals a night.
