As the NBA regular season winds down, the Oklahoma City Thunder are holding strong with the best record, looking like the top team in the league. But not on Sunday.
Just a game removed from falling short in the quest for 70 wins, the Thunder fell at home after a dominant Los Angeles Lakers performance. The Lakers earned the 126-99 win after taking a big double-digit lead in the first half, and never looking back.
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After a relatively tight first quarter, the Lakers started to run away with it in the second frame, pulling ahead by as many as 29 points. The 78-56 scoreline at halftime marked the most points that the Thunder have allowed in a half this season.
L.A.’s massive lead was buoyed by a stellar half from Luka Dončić, who finished with 22 first-half points, including five 3-pointers. The Lakers combined for 15 first-half 3-pointers in total — tied for most in a half in franchise history — with Austin Reaves, Dorian Finney-Smith and Gabe Vincent pitching in three triples each in the half.
That domination continued through the second half, as the Lakers kept the Thunder at arm’s length. OKC’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander continued his MVP campaign with a 26-point performance, but went scoreless toward the end of the game. He and the rest of the Thunder struggled to cut into the deficit, even as the Lakers turned the ball over 15 times.
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The Lakers’ big win was buoyed by strong bench performances from Finney-Smith and Vincent, and a second-half surge from LeBron James, who finished with 19 points. But it was Dončić’s magic that really stood out: Even a bloody lip partway through the second half couldn’t stop Dončić, who finished with 30 points after putting up some wild shots.
And to cap it all off, Bronny James got a 3-pointer in the final minute of the game. All-in-all, a great game for Los Angeles.
While the Thunder, at 64-14, have the No. 1 seed already wrapped up, wins like these are key for the Lakers at this point in the season. L.A. currently sits third in the Western Conference, holding a 48-30 record with Sunday’s win.
But the middle of the West is incredibly tight right now: Five other teams are within one or two wins of the Lakers, with all of those teams also clinching postseason berths. With four regular season games left, the Lakers can still secure as high as the No. 2 seed while still potentially falling out of the top six spots to avoid the play-in tournament.