Monday’s 112-105 victory over the visiting Oklahoma City Thunder was the Los Angeles Lakers’ return to winning form. Anthony Davis scored 27 points and pulled down 15 rebounds, while LeBron James added 25 points.
The Lakers won for the third time in nine games behind the 15 points scored by Austin Reaves and the 14 points added by D’Angelo Russell in their respective backcourt turns. Russell and Reaves started as the game’s first guard duo after their previous pairing on November 8.
Right knee sprain forced Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to be benched throughout the game, but he ended up scoring 24 points for the Thunder. In the first game of a four-game road trip, Oklahoma City ended a four-game winning streak with 25 points from Jalen Williams and 11 from Luguentz Dort.
Chet Holmgren set a rookie record for the Thunder franchise with three blocks. Oklahoma City concluded with a 41.7 percent shooting percentage from the field, while the Lakers shot 52.4 percent.
The Thunder shot 37.5 percent from the field in the first two quarters, but they were still able to tie the game 50-50 at the half. In the third quarter, the Lakers gained control, leading 34–26 and scoring 84–76 on shots of 70 percent (14 of 20) from the field.
James, who returned from missing Saturday’s loss at Utah due to a left ankle soreness, drove for a basket to give Los Angeles its first double-digit lead at 93-82 with 8:52 remaining.
With 7:14 left, the Thunder closed the gap to 95-90, but the Lakers responded with a 9-1 run that featured five straight points from Rui Hachimura, who finished with 12 points in his second game back from a calf injury. With 4:24 remaining, the run gave Los Angeles a 104-91 lead.
With 3:33 remaining, the Thunder was behind 106-93, but they utilized a 7-0 rally to get within six points. With 1:10 left, Gilgeous-Alexander had a chance to cut the lead to four points, but his shot slid off the rim.
With 50.6 seconds left, Davis scored a slam on the other end to give the Lakers a 108-100 advantage, thus ending the game.
The Lakers had defeated the Thunder twice in a row after suffering a 133-110 loss in Oklahoma City on November 30.