At home, they beat without question (116-104) the leader of the Western Conference, Oklahoma City. The Angelenos relied in particular on their trio of stars: D’Angelo Russell had a full game with 26 points, 6 rebounds, 4 interceptions and 3 assists (plus a block). Anthony Davis was not left out with 24 points, 12 rebounds and 4 assists.
LeBron James approached the triple double with 19 points, 11 rebounds and 8 assists. The King could perhaps have reached it if his team had not dominated so much at the end of the match. Given the gap, which rose to 23 points in the last period, James was left on the bench for the entire end of the game.
The Thunder lose their place as conference leader
Also note the good performance of Austin Reaves (16 points, 7 assists, 6 rebounds) and the good off the bench of Taurean Prince (14 points, 6 rebounds). The only downside: the numerous ball losses (20) which could have been more costly against a less clumsy team (31% shooting in the first half for OKC).
On the Thunder side, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored “only” 20 points, seeing his series of matches with thirty points or more stop at 8. No other player exceeded 15 points, the limit where Chet Holmgren (6 of 14 shooting) and Lu Dort (5 of 9) both stopped.
With this setback, the Thunder gives up first place to Minnesota (winner of Portland). The Lakers moved up one place to ninth. They are ahead of Utah, first non-qualified, and are only two victories away from a direct ticket to the play-offs without going through the play-in.
