Lakers Give OKC Their First Win Of The Season
OKLAHOMA CITY (CBSLA) — Coming off their overtime win against the San Antonio Spurs and hoping to keep the win streak going, Los Angeles Lakers hoped to rout the winless Oklahoma City Thunder.
However, with star Lebron James sidelined with an ankle injury and the offense struggling in the second half the Lakers dropped their third game of the season, losing to the Thunder 123-115
With James out, the offense fell to the hands of power forward Anthony Davis and guard Russell Westbrook. Davis, the Lakers' leading scorer this season, continued to show off his offensive prowess again leading the Lakers in scoring with 30 points. He also recorded eight rebounds, the second-most for the Lakers.
Facing his old team, Westbrook was the only Laker to top Davis in rebounds as he grabbed 14 boards, scored 20 points and dished out 13 assists, rounding out his first triple-double of the season. However, Westbrook struggled to find the bottom of the net shooting 40% overall, 25% from behind the arc and failed to take care of the ball turning the ball over 10 times. By the end of the game he recorded a plus/minus of -12. Westbrook also received a technical foul at the end of the game following a dunk by Thunder power forward Darius Bazley.
Much like their season, the Thunder looked shaky in the first quarter allowing the Lakers to score 41 points in the first quarter, responding with only 19 of their own.
Although the Lakers retained the lead at the half, they seemed to run out of steam allowing the Thunder to score 37 points in the second quarter.
L.A. struggled to stop OKC's red hot offense allowing the rather young team to score 41 points in the third quarter, while only scoring 23 points to open the second half.
Going into the final quarter the Thunder held a slight lead of 97-95. The fourth quarter proved to be a much more defensive battle with each team scoring below 25 points. The Lakers failed to regain the lead, however, came within striking distance, down only one point with 50 seconds left in the game. But a layup from Thunder center Derrick Favors sealed the game as the Lakers did not score for the rest of the game.
The Lakers will look to return to .500 in their next game against the 2-2 Cleveland Cavaliers.