OKLAHOMA CITY — An early-season trend for the Lakers was their struggles against the league’s best teams.
But they’ve completely flipped the script in that area, with Sunday afternoon’s 126-99 win over the league-leading Oklahoma City Thunder at Paycom Center being the latest example.
The Lakers took control early behind Luka Doncic’s offensive performance (30 points, seven rebounds, six assists, five 3-pointers – 14 points; three 3s in the first quarter), giving the Lakers a double-digit lead going into the second.
And as the game progressed, the Lakers’ defense became more stiffling.
They held the Thunder to 24 or fewer points in the final three quarters, helping them maintain at least a 20-point lead for nearly the last 30 minutes of the game.
“Obviously we’ve been pretty good against some of the better teams this year, and we haven’t been as good against some of the teams that are below .500,” LeBron James said. “But this is a great team to test out and see where you are, but ultimately it’s about our habits.”
The Lakers dominated the Thunder in a way they haven’t all season, with Sunday being Oklahoma City’s largest margin of defeat since falling to the Celtics in Boston by 35 points last season on April 3, 2024, a game Thunder All-NBA guard and MVP candidate Shai Gilgeous-Alexander didn’t play in.
Sunday was the Thunder’s worst home loss since falling to the Denver Nuggets, 128-95, on Oct. 29, 2023.
The Lakers’ 20-16 record against .500 and above teams is tied with the Houston Rockets for the second-best mark in the conference behind the Thunder (28-10).
In just the past week, the Lakers, who are No. 3 in the West’s standings with a 48-30 record, have beaten the two teams above them in the conference – Sunday’s win over the Thunder and the March 31 home win over the Rockets.
Their 34-14 against Western Conference teams is one game behind the Thunder for the best in-conference record.
The Lakers are 20-10 against the nine other teams slated to make the playoffs/Play-In Tournament.
They’ll match up against the Thunder again on Tuesday at Paycom Center and host the Rockets on Friday for their final home game for their final matchups against the West’s top-two teams.
The Lakers will also play the Mavericks on Wednesday, Doncic’s first game in Dallas after shockingly being traded to the Lakers in early February, for another matchup against a West team slated to compete in postseason play.
“We have to continue to push our habits,” James said. “[The Thunder] know who they are, they know what they’re going to be in the postseason. We’re still trying to figure it out with our lineups, with us all getting acclimated to what Luka wants to do, [Austin Reaves] and myself and to make sure we key in on everybody else on the team and make sure we hold each other accountable. We understand that coming down the stretch, we have to play some really good basketball, but we’re still working on habits.”
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When asked about his plans for the back-to-back road games against the Thunder and Mavericks on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively, James revealed he had other plans he had to take care of.
“What’s today? Can I get to it? I don’t even know,” he responded. “I don’t even know, man. I’m about to go shoot ‘Mind the Game’ with Steve Nash. That’s what’s most important right now. We got that dub out the way, now I’m going to go shoot ‘Mind the Game’ with Steve Nash. So, let’s get there when we get there.”
The second season of “Mind the Game”, which James now co-hosts with the NBA legend after previously co-hosting with Lakers coach JJ Redick last spring before taking the coaching job, debuted last week.
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