The Los Angeles Lakers (11-2) are looking to extend their winning streak to five games, as they travel to Oklahoma City to take on the Thunder (5-9) for their second game in a row. Tuesday’s game came down to the wire, with KCP drilling a dagger three into the heart of a late OKC surge. The Lakers particularly struggled to contain Thunder guard Dennis Schroder and power forward Danilo Gallinari, who combined to score 56 points at the Staples Center as the Lakers struggled to put away the Thunder.
Despite their poor record, the Thunder only have a -0.5 point differential, having lost by 10 or more points only twice on the year. Despite their highly publicized roster turnover, they’ve found a way to be competitive in a lot of their games. This proved true when they held the Lakers to only 19 fourth-quarter points on Tuesday, as Oklahoma City went 0-2 in their Los Angeles road trip, losing by two points to the Clippers on a Paul George three-pointer.
Though Dennis Schroder was their main offensive threat in the last game, look for star second-year point guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to improve on his 5-16 performance. The Lakers did a good job shutting down the majority of the Thunder starters, holding Steven Adams, Chris Paul, and Terrance Ferguson to a combined 9 points on 3-17 shooting from the floor.
Anthony Davis was a constant menace against Oklahoma City, dropping 34 points and consistently attacking the Thunder on the defensive end with 4 steals and 2 blocks. He’ll look to continue his dominance tonight. Speaking of dominant, what will LeBron do tonight after notching his first career triple-double against the Thunder in his career? LeBron was unstoppable, getting to the paint at will and shooting 40% from distance, but he will look to cut down on turnovers this time around, as he had seven of them on Tuesday.
For the Lakers, they need everyone else to keep up their level of play, with Caldwell-Pope, Kyle Kuzma, and Dwight Howard providing crucial contributions when called upon. The Lakers also hope to keep their good defensive run intact, as they’ve only allowed 99.75 points per game in their last four games, and 102.8 over the course of their current five-game winning streak.
The Lakers play the Thunder in Oklahoma City at 5:00 PM. Follow Lakers Outsiders for updates and more.
