LOS ANGELES — Lakers coach JJ Redick warned his team about the risks of turning the ball over against the reigning NBA champions, the Oklahoma City Thunder.
After struggling with ball safety for half of Monday night time’s matchup at Crypto.com Arena, the Lakers cleaned issues up.
But what the Lakers struggled with all through was securing defensive rebounds against a Thunder team that thrives with capitalizing on any margins offered to them, main to the Lakers falling to the Thunder 119-110 on the first night time of their home back-to-back set.
After struggling to take care of the ball, turning the ball 10 instances for 20 Oklahoma City factors that helped the Thunder take a game-best 14-point lead in the second quarter, the Lakers only turned the ball over 5 instances in the second half for three Oklahoma City factors.
But the Lakers didn’t overcome the Thunder widening their margins on the offensive glass, with Oklahoma City scoring 24 second-chance factors.
LeBron James led the Lakers with 22 factors, 10 assists and six rebounds, his third consecutive sport with a points-assists double-double.
The Lakers battle for an offensive rebound during their loss to the Thunder on Feb. 9. NBAE via Getty Images
Marcus Smart scored 19 factors, while Austin Reaves had 16 factors and seven assists off of the bench.
What it means
The Lakers dropped to 32-20 in the loss, staying at the No. 5 spot in the Western Conference standings after having a probability to transfer up to No. 4.
Their three-game profitable streak also ended.
The Lakers haven’t won more than three video games in a row since late November.
Turning level
When Cason Wallace grabbed the offensive rebound at the 5:04 mark in the fourth quarter that led to a Jalen Williams layup to put the Thunder up 102-99 with just over 5 minutes left.
Up to that level in the sport, the Lakers and Thunder were wanting to create separation after both groups went on runs to create vital leads.
Cason Wallace seems to transfer the ball during the Thunder’s win over the Lakers on Feb. 9. AP
But the Thunder’s benefit on the glass in that second encapsulated a night-long pattern of Oklahoma City profitable around the margins.
The Lakers didn’t have another for the the rest of the sport, trailing by at least three factors for the remaining 5 minutes.
MVP: Isaiah Joe
During a sport in which both groups were lacking their MVP candidates, the outcome was going to come down to which position gamers were going to step up.
Joe did that for the Thunder early with his 3-point capturing and cuts to the basket, serving to the Thunder take a 31-30 lead after the first quarter and a 67-58 lead going into halftime.
He scored 9 factors, all 3-pointers, in the first quarter and seven in the second. He completed the sport with 19 factors on 6-of-13 capturing.
Stat of the sport: 10
That’s how many more second-chance factors the Thunder scored than the Lakers, having a 24-14 benefit for the sport.
Oklahoma City grabbed 5 more offensive rebounds than the Lakers, and were more profitable with making these additional scoring alternatives depend.
Up next
The Lakers will shut out their back-to-back set when they host the Spurs on Tuesday night time.
The Spurs, who are No. 2 in the West standings, are on a four-game profitable streak and have won 9 of their last 12 video games.
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