Oklahoma City Thunder Can’t Complete Comeback, Fall to Lakers

In the midst of jockeying for Play-In and Playoff positioning, the Oklahoma City Thunder, on the second night of a back-to-back, faced the tall task of knocking off Anthony Davis and the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday night.

OKC was looking to break a multi-way tie and improve their seeding in the jumbled Western Conference. A win would've catapulted them into contention for the seventh seed; but the eventual loss hurt their chances of making the Play-In.

Entering the match as underdogs, the Thunder struggled to find their footing early, finding themselves in a major hole after the first quarter. Oklahoma City would respond well the rest of the way, clawing their way back to a tied game late in the fourth quarter, but would ultimately give way to the Lakers and Davis’ 37 points.

The high stakes game got off to a rough start for the Thunder as they allowed 41 first-quarter points to the Lakers while only scoring 25. Reaves got off to a hot start, hitting an early 3-pointer and earning an and-one opportunity to ignite Los Angeles’ offense while Oklahoma City’s guards struggled to put points on the board.

However, Davis was certainly the focal point of the offense in the first frame as the Thunder couldn’t quite figure out how to slow him down. The Lakers’ star caught a lob from Dennis Schroder to give him 15 points and his team a 26-16 lead with about four minutes to go. From there the Lakers perimeter shooting would take over as they were able to find their sixth 3-pointer to extend their lead heading into the next frame.

An early 3-pointer from Lindy Waters cut the lead to just 13 points but Malik Beasley would quickly respond with a triple of his own and Rui Hachimura would earn another and-one to dampen the Thunder’s hopes of making a run. Fortunately, Josh Giddey and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander were able to crank the Thunder’s offense engine up to make a late run to cut the Lakers’ lead to six, 66-72, before halftime.

The Thunder were able to cut the Lakers’ 16-point lead in half in the second frame as they produced their own 41-point quarter while holding the Lakers’ offense to just 33 points.

As the tide started to turn, an offensive rebound by Giddey led to Luguentz Dort cracking open a 3-pointer and cutting the Lakers’ lead down to just five, 73-78, as the third quarter approached the halfway mark. Moments later, Giddey would knock down his own 3-pointer to cut the lead to two, but Troy Brown Jr. responded with his own triple before Davis drove to the hoop to push the Lakers’ lead back out to seven, 83-76.

As Davis converted on another alley-oop from Schroder, Dort answered back with another 3-pointer and Giddey found his way to the cup to reduce the Thunder’s deficit to just two points again, 83-85, with about four and a half minutes to go. But, down the stretch, Reaves was able to find a floater late in the shot clock and Lonnie Walker earned free throws to push the Lakers’ advantage to eight points.

Fortunately, the Thunder’s defense manufactured multiple stops and Gilgeous-Alexander was able to find his way to the basket for two points and then assisted Jeremiah Robinson-Earl on the next possession for a layup to cut the lead to four before Waters drained a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to cut the Lakers’ lead to just one heading into the fourth, 92-93.

After another 3-pointer by Robinson-Earl and a floater by Giddey, Oklahoma City found themselves down 97-100 with nine minutes remaining as Schroder poured in six straight points to power the Lakers’ offense. Aaron Wiggins would come off the bench to hit an awkward scoop layup before a mid-range jumper by Davis’ kept the Lakers up three with seven minutes to go.

With both teams turning the ball over, the Thunder finally found their footing after Gilgeous-Alexander pulled up from mid-range to knot things up 102-102 momentarily before Davis responded with a free throw trip and his own mid-range shot to give the Lakers a three-point, 102-105, just inside five minutes.

Down three, Jalen Williams would provide a 3-pointer to tie things up at 105, but Walker would match with his own triple and a 10-foot turnaround jumper by Schroder would make the score 110-105 with the clock winding down. From there, the Thunder couldn’t match the Lakers’ offense and complete the comeback and would lose, 111-116.

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