Los Angeles – Lakers coach, J. J. Redick, warned his team about the dangers of facing the NBA champions, the Oklahoma City Thunder.
After struggling with ball security for part of Monday night’s game at Crypto.com Arena, the Lakers cleaned things up.
But what the Lakers struggled with was getting defensive rebounds against a thriving Thunder team by capitalizing on whatever boundaries were given to them, resulting in the Lakers falling to the Thunder 119-110 on the first night of their back-to-back set.
After struggling to take care of the ball, turning the ball over 10 times and Oklahoma City’s 20 points helped the Thunder win by 14 points in the second quarter, the Lakers only turned the ball over five times in the second half and three points in Oklahoma City.
But the Lakers did not overcome the Thunder to increase the margins on the offensive glass, Oklahoma City scored 24 points in the second.
LeBron James led the Lakers with 22 points, 10 assists and six rebounds, his third straight game with a double-double.
Marcus Smart scored 19 points, while Austin Reaves had 16 points and seven assists off the bench.
What does it mean
The Lakers fell to 32-20 in the loss, sitting in 5th place in the Western Conference standings after having a chance to climb to No.
Their three game winning streak ended again.
The Lakers haven’t won more than three games in a row since late November.
Conversion point
When Cason Wallace grabbed an offensive rebound at the 5:04 mark in the fourth quarter that led to Jalen Williams’ layup to put the Thunder up 102-99 with more than five minutes left.
Up until that point in the game, the Lakers and Thunder were looking to create a breakaway after both teams continued to make runs to make important leads.
But the Thunder’s advantage on the glass during that period capped Oklahoma City’s all-night streak of victories at the rim.
The Lakers don’t have another game left, trailing by at least three points in the final five minutes.
MVP: Isaiah Joe
During a game where both teams were missing MVP candidates, the outcome would come down to which role players would step up.
Joe did that for the Thunder in the morning with his 3-point shooting and slashing to the basket, helping the Thunder to a 31-30 lead after the first quarter and a 67-58 lead going into halftime.
He scored nine points, all 3-pointers, in the first quarter and seven in the second. He finished the game with 19 points on 6-of-13 shooting.
Game condition: 10
That’s how many second-chance points the Thunder scored than the Lakers, with a 24-14 game advantage.
Oklahoma City grabbed five more offensive rebounds than the Lakers, and was more successful in making those extra scoring opportunities count.
Next
The Lakers will close out their back-to-back streak when they host the Spurs on Tuesday night.
The Spurs, in second place in the Western Conference, are on a four-game winning streak and have won nine of their last 12 games.
