New FSM Essential Recap: Lakers vs Thunder - Game 27

New FSM Essential Recap: Lakers vs Thunder – Game 27

Franchise Sports Media

Los Angeles Lakers (14-13)  |  Oklahoma City Thunder (8-17)

 

The Los Angeles Lakers dominated with a short hand as they defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder 116-95.

 

The Lakers had to go without their star power forward in Anthony Davis as Davis deals with soreness in his left knee.

Josh Giddey got the scoring started as the Thunder struck first on their first possession of the game. LeBron James quickly responded with a layup to put Los Angeles on the board. After five minutes of back-and-forth play early on, Los Angeles jumped out early as Talen Horton-Tucker hit a three for his first score of the game to give the Lakers a 9-8 lead. Avery Bradley followed up with two straight threes to extend the lead to seven. A Dwight Howard free throw and a Bradley layup afterward resulted in a 10-point lead.

Darius Bazley stopped the momentum with a jump shot to put Oklahoma City into double digits. James responded with a three to give the Lakers an 11-point cushion. Malik Monk began to produce points as he scored six points in 37 seconds with less than two minutes remaining in the opening quarter. Austin Reaves ended the quarter with two free throws to increase the lead to 14 after one.

James began the second quarter with a slam and kept his momentum up with five more points after a Tre Mann dunk. By the 7:32 mark of the second quarter, Los Angeles built a 21-point lead and continued to pull away with threes from Bradley and Wayne Ellington. Down 25, the Thunder tried to get something going as Bazley, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander each hit a three to cut the lead to 19. Oklahoma City kept the fight up with dunks from Jeremiah Robinson-Earl and Bazley, as well as a midrange jumper from Luguentz Dort. Suddenly the lead went from 25 to 13 for the Lakers.

Los Angeles started the quarter solid but cooled off and got complacent in the middle part of the quarter to allow the game to get closer. Russell Westbrook resumed the scoring for the Lakers late in the half, followed by a three from Carmelo Anthony and a short jumper from Reaves to gain back some of the lead they gave up.

 

A hot, cold, then hot again type of second-quarter allowed L.A. to go into the locker room leading 64-45 over the Thunder.

 

To begin the third quarter, Giddey hit a floater only to be overshadowed by James and Bradley, scoring eight straight points to build the lead back to 25. Derrick Favors threw down two dunks to stop the scoring run, but efficiency in the early parts of the quarter helped keep the big lead.

Los Angeles continued to pour it on in the later minutes of the third quarter as James and Bradley continued their impressive shooting from downtown. The Lakers led by as much as 29 in the quarter as they went into the fourth quarter with a big 93-68 lead.

Dort came out hot in the fourth quarter as he scored seven straight Thunder points against just four Lakers points in the first two minutes. Mann scored eight straight Thunder points, while the Lakers scored only two points in that span. As Oklahoma City fought back, Reaves and Ellington added five points to their lead.

For most of the second half of the quarter, the Lakers rested most of their starters as the game got out of reach for the Thunder. The bench did a great job maintaining the lead, even pulling it to 26 points in two minutes with points from Horton-Tucker, Reaves, and Ellington. Los Angeles ended up with a 21-point victory over the Thunder for the first time this season.

James dominated the game in Davis’ absence, scoring a game-high 33 points, while Bradley finished with 22 points after sinking six threes in the game. Reaves scored 13 off the bench while Horton-Tucker added 11 points.

The Thunder struggled most of the night to produce consistent offense, with Mann leading the team with 19 points off the bench, followed by 12 points from Giddey and 11 from both Gilgeous-Alexander and Dort.

 

The Lakers will return home on Sunday, December 12th, to take on the Orlando Magic. The game will begin at 6:30 PM and can be seen live on Spectrum SportsNet.

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– Matt Dobbs – Franchise Sports Media

Follow Matt on Twitter @RecordBowlerFSM

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