LA Lakers Win a Thriller Against the Stubborn OKC Thunder, 112-107

Rajon Rondo’s and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope’s three-pointers were the keys to Lakers’ success in this one. The team from LA defeated OKC Thunder 112-107, after a huge fight, notching their 11th win of the season. On the other side, the Thunder lost again in LA, less than 24 hours following their fierce battle with the Clippers.

“Confidence. It’s all about confidence,” Anthony Davis said about KCP’s three. “He’s been very confident in the last couple of games, made some big shots for us. We need him to keep going.”

With the Thunder closing down and reaching to just two points away from the hosts 109-107, the sharpshooting forward made it five with 55.3 seconds to go. That was one of the final moments in this match, which turned out to be much more exciting than anyone expected. Following his three, OKC had two attacks in which they failed to score, while on the other side, LeBron missed two free throws adding an additional dose of drama to this event.

Kenny 3️⃣ with the clutch triple!

(📺: @SpectrumSN ) pic.twitter.com/30IT6HIEJo

— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) November 20, 2019

Once Frank Vogel’s team ended the first half with a 10-point lead, 63-53, many believed that it is, in fact, the end of the match and that the LAL will routinely handle this. However, the visitors made a 10-2 run at the start of the third sequence to come back. The same thing happened in the late part of the same period. The Lakers led 90-80, but OKC scored 7 unanswered buckets to come close. Yet, there was Rondo to hit them hard and to ease up the pressure on the hosts. With 1.6 seconds to go until the end of the third, the veteran playmaker scored a three, snaping the momentum from the guests.

King James would deliver five points at the start of the final frame, to make it 98-87, and to once again pull away the LAL to a safe distance. The hosts were always ahead in this game, but they simply couldn’t break the guests from Oklahoma City who were constantly coming back after them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxxZ2GGqPf0

Davis was excellent tonight, delivering 34 points, 19 of them in the first half. AD had 7 boards, 4 dimes, and steals, and was shooting 13 for 24 from the field. The Eyebrow wasn’t happy with the defensive effort of his team.

“Our defense took a night off,” Davis said during the post game interview on the court. “We weren’t as great defensively as we usually are.”

LeBron had a historic night as he added another triple-double to his account, with 25 buckets, 11 rebounds, and 10 assists, becoming the first player who had triple-double figures against all 30 franchises in the league.

Caldwell-Pope had 13 points.

On the other side, Dennis Schroeder dropped 31 points, and he was the reason why the Lakers didn’t crack his team already in the first half. The German point guard scored 20 points back then and was unstoppable for the Lakers’ guards. Danilo Gallinari added 25 points, while Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had 16.

Chris Paul didn’t have his night – 4points, 10 assists, 1 for 7 from the field

Oklahoma (5-9) and the Lakers (12-2) are meeting once again, this Friday, only this time at the Chesapeake Energy Arena. After that, the Thunder comes back to California to face the Warriors. Meanwhile, the purple and gold would travel to Memphis to meet the Grizzlies.