The Oklahoma City Thunder overwhelmed the Los Angeles Lakers 139-96 on Thursday night at Paycom Center, turning a matchup between two of the NBA’s hottest teams into a blowout.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the way with 28 points as the Thunder improved their grip on the Western Conference race with six games left in the regular season.
Isaiah Joe added 20 points and drilled six 3-pointers, while Oklahoma City shot 53.9% from the field and buried 19 of 42 from deep.
The Lakers, who had won four straight and 13 of 14 before arriving in Oklahoma City, were beaten by one of the largest margins in franchise history. The 43-point loss was the Lakers’ sixth-worst ever and left them reeling after a night that quickly got away.
Luka Doncic, the NBA’s leading scorer, was held to 12 points on 3-for-10 shooting before leaving with a left hamstring injury in the middle of the third quarter. Lakers coach JJ Redick said Doncic will have an MRI on Friday.
Austin Reaves scored 15 points and LeBron James added 13, but Los Angeles never found enough offense to threaten after the opening minutes.
The Thunder set the tone early. It took the Lakers nearly five minutes to make their first field goal, and Oklahoma City surged to a 44-21 lead after the first quarter behind 14 points from Luguentz Dort.
The second quarter was more of the same. Los Angeles again went through a long scoring drought, while the Thunder kept piling on points and reached 76-41 before halftime on a Gilgeous-Alexander layup.
Oklahoma City led 82-51 at the break, falling one point short of the franchise record for first-half scoring in the regular season.
Joe’s flurry of three straight 3-pointers in an 85-second span pushed the lead to 99-61 in the third quarter, and the fourth period was spent largely with reserves on the floor.
The Thunder have now won 16 of 17 and continue to protect homecourt positioning with the postseason approaching.
The teams meet again in Los Angeles on April 7. The Lakers visit Dallas on Sunday, while the Thunder host Utah the same day.
