New FSM Essential Recap: Lakers vs Thunder - Game 5

New FSM Essential Recap: Lakers vs Thunder – Game 5

Franchise Sports Media

Los Angeles Lakers (2-3) | Oklahoma City Thunder (1-4)

 

 

The Los Angeles Lakers suffered a disappointing loss in Oklahoma City against the Thunder by a final score of 123-115, falling to 2-3 on the season.

 

Los Angeles was without LeBron James for the second consecutive game as he continues to heal from his ankle injury. Avery Bradley returned to action after sitting out the previous game against the San Antonio Spurs.

The Lakers began the game on a 12-3 run in the first three and a half minutes, highlighted by Anthony Davis scoring six of those points. After two Davis free throws, the Thunder tried to turn the momentum around with Darius Bazley scoring five quick points, including a dunk after stealing the ball from Russell Westbrook.

Westbrook answered back with a long jump shot, only to be countered by a Derrick Favors layup. Past halfway through the first quarter, after two dunks from DeAndre Jordan and three points from Josh Giddey, the Lakers would dominate the remainder of the quarter and build a 41-19 lead at the first buzzer.

Los Angeles remained strong as the second quarter began, as Bradley and Dwight Howard got the first four Laker points of the quarter. The Lakers would maintain a big lead through the first half of the second quarter, going up by as many as 26 after a Bradley three just over five minutes into the quarter.

The Thunder tried to fight back by drawing fouls and making free throws, but the lead went back to 26 in favor of Los Angeles. After a Davis “and-one” free throw, the Thunder generated some momentum as Isaiah Roby and Luguentz Dort orchestrated a late run that saw them score nine points out of 11 shots. OKC cut to 72-56 at the half.

 

In the second half, the Lakers looked to have a better quarter, but the Thunder stayed vigilant.

 

The Thunder had a response for every Laker conversion, including a Dort three-pointer that cut the lead to 10 for the Lakers. A minute and a half later, the lead was in the single digits as Dort and Bazley continued to lead the comeback attempt. Bradley responded with back-to-back threes, only to be answered by a Shai Gilgeous-Alexander three of his own.

Threes from Ty Jerome and Giddey countered the next two Davis jump shots. Then, Gilgeous-Alexander turned up the heat in the last three minutes of the third quarter, hitting shot after shot that he attempted. Davis tried to help maintain a lead with four points in 30 seconds, but Gilgeous-Alexander could not be stopped, scoring nine straight points in 1:13 to give the Thunder a 97-95 lead after three quarters.

After blowing a lead as big as 26 points, the Lakers looked to get back on track in the money quarter of the game. Westbrook scored the first five Los Angeles points to keep them trailing by one, only for Giddey to hit a jump shot on the ensuing possession. The lead swelled to eight off of points from Kenrich Williams and Derrick Favors. Almost two scoreless minutes later, the teams traded baskets to keep the game at a stalemate.

Carmelo Anthony sank a three with less than three minutes left to cut the deficit to four. Then, following a Favors jump shot, the Lakers scored five straight to only trail by one with 50.7 seconds left.

The Thunder called timeout to regroup and was able to get back into full swing as Favors hit a layup to build Oklahoma City’s lead back to three. However, Los Angeles failed to hit on three straight shots on the ensuing possession, forcing them to intentionally foul to keep the chance of victory within reach. Dort sank the two free throws, and Bazley stole the ball off Rajon Rondo’s pass with three seconds left.

Instead of dribbling the clock out, Bazley proceeded to hit an uncontested dunk with 1.5 seconds left. Westbrook got heated with his former team as he got into a verbal altercation with Bazley over the play, resulting in Westbrook getting a technical foul. After Gilgeous-Alexander hit the technical free throw, Westbrook got tossed from the game after a second technical foul, resulting in boos from his former crowd. The game ended with a Thunder victory by a score of 123-115.

Davis led all scorers with 30 points, while Westbrook had a triple-double with 20 points, 14 rebounds, and 13 assists. However, it wouldn’t be enough to tackle a young Thunder squad that saw all their starters reach double digits in points, led by Gilgeous-Alexander with 27 points. Bazley finished with 20 points, while Giddey had a double-double with 18 points and ten assists. Dort added 17 points, and Favors had 15, while Roby had 13 in just 16 minutes off the bench.

 

The next game for the Lakers will be Friday at Staples Center where they will host the Cleveland Cavaliers. The game will start at 7:30 and can be seen on Spectrum SportsNet.

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 – Matt Dobbs – Franchise Sports Media

Follow Matt on Twitter @RecordBowlerFSM

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