Lakers blowout Thunder on the road

The Lakers earned one of their best wins of the season, dominating the Thunder.

The Lakers dominated the Thunder with a 126-99 win on Sunday afternoon. They made it rain from behind the arc for a total of 22 3-pointers.

Luka Dončić scored 22 of his 30 points in the first half. He also grabbed seven rebounds, dished six dimes and grabbed two steals.

Austin Reaves ended with 20 points, two rebounds and three assists. LeBron James scored 19 points to go with his seven assists and three rebounds.

Dorian Finney-Smith and Gabe Vincent went a combined eight for 12 from behind the arc. Rui Hachimura pitched in with 11 points and seven rebounds.

The Lakers and Thunder both started the game with hot shooting. They took turns with the lead early. Luka was cooking from behind the arc, knocking down two of his first three attempts.

OKC’s MVP candidate Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had six points. L.A. took a four-point lead at the first timeout.

Austin was already up to seven points for the Lakers. Despite leaving Lu Dort wide open from behind the arc, Los Angeles’ defense looked great. They were also looking sharp offensively, shooting 80% from the field.

The Lakers dominated defensively throughout the quarter, catching the Thunder off guard, who looked a little rattled. Gabe came in and drained two 3-pointers. L.A. maintained a lead of 10 at the end of the first.

Los Angeles came out still on fire to start the second quarter. Austin drained two more 3-pointers and LeBron pitched in with one of his own. The Lakers suddenly found themselves leading by 20. OKC was forced to call a timeout to stop this onslaught from L.A..

Aaron Wiggins scored on a layup out of the break after a few good defensive stops from the Lakers. There was a shift in the momentum in favor of the Thunder, with them slashing the 20-point Laker lead to 13. Former Laker, 2020 champ, and forever fan favorite, Alex Caruso drained a 3-pointer.

The Lakers did a tremendous job answering OKC’s momentum shift with Dorian and Luka knocking down 3-pointers.

Luka had an incredible pass to Gabe, who knocked down another 3-pointer, adding to the barrage from behind the arc. The Thunder missed shots that they’d normally make with ease.

OKC looked discombobulated and ill-prepared for this dominant first-half performance from the Lakers.

Luka was five for eight from behind the arc and up to 22 points. L.A. was shooting 75% from deep, which was largely why they were up so big.

At halftime, the purple and gold were up 22.

The Lakers started the third quarter colder than the first half, going three for seven from the field. Luckily for them, SGA was the only one doing any scoring for the Thunder, minus a three from Lu Dort. L.A. relied on its defense to keep OKC at bay while it tried to gain more steam offensively again.

They did indeed wake up their offense, starting with a 3-pointer from Austin. Luka scored five points straight, two of which were off an incredible circus shot.

OKC had a mini-scoring spurt with seven points that was disrupted by two more threes from Dorian and Gabe. After a three from Holmgren, LeBron scored on a midrange jumper. At the end of the third, L.A. was up 26.

The final frame began with a baseline jumper from LeBron. After that shot, the Lakers fumbled a few times, allowing four points from the Thunder. Then, after a layup by Jalen Williams, the Lakers called a timeout to avoid any momentum building from OKC.

Los Angeles managed to keep their big lead, and with 2:16 left, the Lakers brought in their bench.

Key Takeaways:

That was beautiful, let’s do it again on Tuesday!

The Lakers’ next matchup will be a rematch against the Thunder on Tuesday at 5:00 PM PT.

You can follow Karin on Twitter at @KarinAbcarians.