OKC Thunder vs. Lakers: OKC in search of elusive first win
The OKC Thunder almost caught the Golden State Warriors napping but as good teams are wont to do the Dubs made a late run and snatched the victory away.
The Thunder made a match of it jumping on the Dubs and building a 15-point lead before giving way to the Dubs. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had his best shooting night scoring a season-high 30 points and finally connected from deep (4 of 5).
Luguentz Dort made Stephen Curry’s night pretty miserable although there is no stopping an MVP-level player.
Lu the Beast shadowed Curry everywhere and was successful at limiting Curry to 14 field goal attempts, six rebounds, (and four assists) — his lowest in each category this season (other than assists). In the three games, prior Curry averaged 23 field goal attempts, nine rebounds and seven assists.
Despite the effort, the Thunder remains winless after four games and return to the court to finish their back-to-back set against the Lakers this evening.
LA also played last night against the Spurs winning in overtime in yet another game they were lucky to win as the Spurs held a 12 point lead but lost the final quarter 29-17 which forced overtime where the Lakers took over to capture the victory.
OKC Thunder vs Lakers preview – The walking wounded
Typically we save the injury report for later in the preview but with two core players potentially out let’s address it right away.
LeBron James was out for the game in San Antonio and is questionable for tonight. James tweaked his ankle in the game Sunday versus the Grizzlies. It’s the same ankle he hurt last season causing him to miss 26 games (20 consecutively). Frank Vogel said the issue is in a “different spot” than last season.
The elephant in the room is whether Anthony Davis will play after suffering two separate incidents at the start and end of the Spurs match. He played through both but like all bumps, they can become more painful the next day as swelling occurs.
The first incident happened in the first quarter (10:11 for video reference) when AD went in for a dunk and was blocked by Jakob Poeltl. The force sent Davis to the ground where he remained for a prolonged period clutching at his shoulder. It was unclear if he injured it on the initial block which sent his arm backward or from the fall itself as his arm instinctively reached out to brace his fall.
In the last minute of regulation (: 42-second mark) he jumped for a missed free throw and came down clutching his knee. The replay didn’t offer the best camera angles but he was already grabbing for his knee before he landed.
He either bumped knees or perhaps stepped on a foot and twisted it. Regardless of how it happened, he played in overtime. Vogel was noncommittal about whether he’d suit up tonight stating they would base the decision on how the knee felt today.
LA could be without both James or AD, have both, or just one but we likely won’t know until late in the day.
With that, let’s dive deeper into previewing this match between the OKC Thunder and Lakers.