It seemed as if the Los Angeles Lakers were up against it when they headed east to take on the Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday afternoon. They had been sputtering for nearly a month on both ends of the floor, while Oklahoma City had won 18 of its last 20 games and boasted the NBA's best defense.
But instead of being held in submission by a team that came in with a league-best 64-13 record, the Lakers took it right to the Thunder and shattered that supposedly great defense.
Los Angeles started to build a lead midway through the first quarter and never looked back. It was up 42-32 at the end of the first quarter and 78-56 at halftime, and the Thunder never mounted any type of real rally throughout. While L.A. shot a blistering 22-of-40 from 3-point range, its defense was also impressive. It held Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the NBA's leading scorer, to a modest 26 points and forced Jalen Williams into a 4-of-14 clunker.
The result was a 126-99 Lakers rout. The team now has a 48-30 record and continues to strengthen its grip on third place in the Western Conference, as it has a 1.5-game cushion over the fourth-place Denver Nuggets.
Rui Hachimura: C-plus
Hachimura returned to the starting lineup after missing Friday's game against the New Orleans Pelicans. He shot just 4-of-10 from the field and scored 11 points in 32 minutes, but he did grab seven rebounds, which was tied for a team-high. With his help, the Lakers outrebounded the Thunder by nine.
Jaxson Hayes: B
Hayes played just 13 minutes, but he made another solid contribution. He got five rebounds and scored seven points, although he missed three of his four free throw attempts.
Austin Reaves: B
After scoring 30 points in four of his last five games, Reaves went down to his mathematical mean by scoring 20 points on 7-of-15 overall shooting and 4-of-8 from 3-point range, plus three assists, two rebounds, one steal and one block. Fifteen of his 20 points came in the first half as the Lakers snatched control of this game and set the tone.
Luka Doncic: A
Doncic was hot early with 14 points in the first quarter, and at halftime, he had already scored 22 points. He finished the game with 30 points on 11-of-20 field-goal shooting and 5-of-11 from downtown. He did a solid job of mixing up his offensive attack instead of relying too much on contested treys, and he also notched six assists, seven rebounds and two steals.
LeBron James: B-minus
James didn't assert himself much in this game. He scored 19 points on 9-of-16 shooting and had seven assists, but he only brought down three rebounds. However, it is a good thing that the Lakers won so easily despite such an underwhelming game from James, as this should allow him to preserve some energy moving forward.
Dorian Finney-Smith: A
After two weak games, Finney-Smith got hot again on Sunday. He tossed in four of his five shot attempts, all of which were 3-point attempts, and he scored 14 points while grabbing seven rebounds and adding two steals in 30 minutes.
Gabe Vincent: A
Vincent was also hitting from the perimeter in this game. All seven of his ...
