LOS ANGELES — Lakers coach JJ Redick warned his team about the dangers of turning the ball over against the reigning NBA champions, the Oklahoma City Thunder.
After struggling with ball security for half of Monday night’s matchup at Crypto.com Arena, the Lakers cleaned things up.
But what the Lakers struggled with throughout was securing defensive rebounds against a Thunder team that thrives with capitalizing on any margins provided to them, leading to the Lakers falling to the Thunder 119-110 on the first night of their home back-to-back set.
After struggling to take care of the ball, turning the ball 10 times for 20 Oklahoma City points that helped the Thunder take a game-best 14-point lead in the second quarter, the Lakers only turned the ball over five times in the second half for three Oklahoma City points.
But the Lakers didn’t overcome the Thunder widening their margins on the offensive glass, with Oklahoma City scoring 24 second-chance points.
LeBron James led the Lakers with 22 points, 10 assists and six rebounds, his third consecutive game with a points-assists double-double.
Marcus Smart scored 19 points, while Austin Reaves had 16 points 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 chance to move up to No. 4.
Their three-game winning streak also ended.
The Lakers haven’t won more than three games in a row since late November.
Turning point
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 five minutes left.
Up to that point in the game, the Lakers and Thunder were looking to create separation after both teams went on runs to create significant leads.
But the Thunder’s advantage on the glass in that moment encapsulated a night-long trend of Oklahoma City winning around the margins.
The Lakers didn’t have another for the remainder of the game, trailing by at least three points for the final five minutes.
MVP: Isaiah Joe
During a game in which both teams were missing their MVP candidates, the result was going to come down to which role players were going to step up.
Joe did that for the Thunder early with his 3-point shooting and cuts to the basket, helping the Thunder take a 31-30 lead after the first quarter and a 67-58 lead going into halftime.
He scored nine points, all 3-pointers, in the first quarter and seven in the second. He finished the game with 19 points on 6-of-13 shooting.
Stat of the game: 10
That’s how many more second-chance points the Thunder scored than the Lakers, having a 24-14 advantage for the game.
Oklahoma City grabbed five more offensive rebounds than the Lakers, and were more successful with making those extra scoring opportunities count.
Up next
The Lakers will close out their back-to-back set when they host the Spurs on Tuesday night.
The Spurs, who are No. 2 in the West standings, are on a four-game winning streak and have won nine of their last 12 games.
