Lakers Final Score: Anthony Davis Leads LA To Essential 116-111 Win Over Thunder
Last night at Crypto.com Arena, your Los Angeles moved to a .500 record for the first time in the 2022-23 season (in game 74, no less) by eking out a hard-fought 116-111 victory against the Oklahoma City Thunder, despite the absence of two of LA's top three scorers.
As we had hoped, center Anthony Davis was the star of the show, scoring 37 points on 15-of-21 shooting from the field and 7-of-11 shooting from the charity stripe, grabbing 15 rebounds, and notching an assist and a steal in
Davis was cooking from the jump. He scored 15 points on 6-of-7 shooting and gobbled up five boards in the game's first quarter alone.
Dennis Schröder, starting in the place of the injured D'Angelo Russell, had a big game himself, showing off his deft two-man play with AD early:
Buoyed by Davis, LA enjoyed an impeccable first quarter, and had a 41-25 edge (on 58.3% shooting) at the break. That 41-point total marked their highest-scoring first quarter of the season to date.
In the game's second quarter, a reactivated Lonnie Walker IV showed off his athleticism with some nifty two-way play.
The Thunder scored 41 points of their own in the game's second quarter, though LA had 33 to maintain a more marginal 74-66 lead at the half. Davis already had 23 points on 9-of-11 shooting and seven boards. Off the LA bench, Walker chipped in 15 and Beasley contributed 10. All-Star point guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and swingman Josh Giddey led Oklahoma City in scoring at the break, combining for 31 of the team's 66 points.
The Lakers' scoring cooled in the third quarter. After leading by as much as 17 points in the first half, LA saw its advantage evaporate to practically nothing in the third frame. The Thunder outscored LA 26-19 to pull within a point of Los Angeles, 93-92, at the end of the frame. Davis chipped in eight of LA's 19 points in the frame, mostly with paint takes:
The fourth quarter proved to be a low-scoring rock fight. Los Angeles narrowly outscored Oklahoma City 23-19 in the period. The Thunder went 8-of-22 in the frame, while LA shot just 8-of-20. Fortunately, the Lakers enjoyed a significant free throw shooting advantage at home (as usual), going 5-of-10 from the foul line. Oklahoma City got just two looks at the charity stripe, making one.
Davis' jumper was scorching last night, too. He even feasted off looks at the elbow:
Schröder was the game's second-leading scorer with 21 points on 8-of-14 shooting (2-of-4 from deep) and 3-of-4 shooting from the free throw line. He also had six assists.
Walker would go on to finish with 20 points on 7-of-12 shooting (4-of-8 from deep), four rebounds and three steals.
LA finished with huge advantages in bench points (40-28), rebounds (53-45), and free throw shooting (LA went 20-of-28 from the charity stripe, while OKC went 17-of-19 from the foul line).
The victory improves the Lakers to a 37-37 record on the season, and shifts them to the Western Conference's eighth seed, while moving the now-36-38 Thunder down to the tenth seed.
LA next faces old friend Patrick Beverley and his Chicago Bulls tomorrow afternoon.
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