NBA Cup: OKC Thunder Win 101-93 Thriller Over Defending Cup Champion Lakers

The Thunder's defensive playmaking and offensive rebounding offset a rough shooting night.

Nov 29, 2024; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Lakers guard Dalton Knecht (4) shoots against Oklahoma City Thunder center Isaiah Hartenstein (55) in the first half at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

The Oklahoma City Thunder survived a clutch-time thriller, beating the Los Angeles Lakers 101-93 in their third Emirates NBA Cup group stage game.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander drilled a 27-foot pull-up three over Max Christie to put the Thunder up four points with a minute and a half remaining. Christie converted a turnaround jumper in the final minute but fouled Gilgeous-Alexander on a drive to the basket — last season's MVP runner-up made both free throws to restore the four-point lead, and Jalen Williams stole and slammed the following inbounds pass to seal the win.

Gilgeous-Alexander scored a game-high 36 points on 28 shots, including three 3-pointers, adding nine assists, six rebounds, two steals and a block. His plus-13 also led all players.

Jalen Williams contributed 19 points, four rebounds, two assists and two steals. Isaiah Hartenstein racked up 11 points, 17 rebounds, four asissts, a steal and a block. Luguentz Dort made four of his five 3-point attempts.

Dalton Knecht led Lakers scorers with 20 points, going 6-for-11 from beyond the arc. He also grabbed six rebounds and dished out four assists. D'Angelo Russell tallied 17 points, nine rebounds, three assists and two steals. Anthony Davis recorded 15 points, 12 rebounds, seven assists and four blocks.

Factor	Thunder	Lakers
Points	101	93
eFG%	47.9%	52.7%
TOV	9	17
ORB	15	8
FT	12-for-16	16-for-21

The Thunder started Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams, Hartenstein, Dort and Cason Wallace — their ninth unique starting five in 19 games.

Los Angeles started Austin Reaves, Knecht, Rui Hachimura, LeBron James and Davis.

Wallace and Hartenstein recorded early steals on back-to-back possessions, leading to a wide-open Dort triple in transition and a Gilgeous-Alexander breakaway layup. Oklahoma City went on a 13-2 run after Reaves nailed a top-of-the-key 3-pointer to start the night's scoring.

Davis nailed a running floater, scored a putback layup and blocked Gilgeous-Alexander at the rim within a minute to help cut the Thunder's lead to five points midway through the opening frame.

Hartenstein stuffed a Knecht dunk attempt with two minutes remaining in the first quarter, but fell hard on his back and got back up laboriously. He exited the game during the next stoppage of play. Oklahoma City led 34-26 after 12 minutes.

Reaves took a similar fall eight minutes into the second quarter, coming down on his lower back after attempting a driving layup contested by Gilgeous-Alexander and Hartenstein. He shot and made both earned free throws after the Lakers' timeout, but checked out for D'Angelo Russell and went to the locker room on the next whistle.

Gilgeous-Alexander swished a step-back 3-pointer to make the score 48-48 with 26 seconds left in the half, and assisted a Kenrich Williams triple at the buzzer to provide the Thunder a three-point halftime advantage. Oklahoma City scored six points in the second quarter's final minute after recording just 13 points in the first 11 minutes.

The Lakers attempted 10 more free throws than the Thunder in the first half, a statistical category that coach Mark Daigneault addressed explicitly before the game.

"When you gameplan for (the Lakers), the battleground is the free-throw line," Daigneault said. "And it starts there because of the differential that they are able to get in that part of the game. I mean, they've shot 507 more free throws than their opponents last season, 476 the season before. They're plus-97 this year. Those are just huge, huge numbers, and the free-throw line is the most efficient shot you can take on the court.

"That's a huge key in the game plan tonight, doing everything we can to neutralize that battleground."

Daigneault shouted at two referees after a missed Jalen Williams layup attempt during the third quarter.

The Thunder went on a three-and-a-half-minute stretch scoring zero points following a Hartenstein putback layup with about four minutes remaining in the third quarter. Gilgeous-Alexander made a pull-up 3-pointer and Aaron Wiggins converted a contested turnaround mid-range jumper to close the quarter, ensuring Oklahoma City a 71-69 lead with 12 minutes to go.

Russell swished two straight left-wing threes — upping his scoring total to a team-high 17 — to give the Lakers a one-point lead, but Dort and Ajay Mitchell responded with two consecutive corner triples in front of the Thunder bench to force a Los Angeles timeout four minutes into the final frame.

The Thunder take on the No. 2 seed Houston Rockets this Sunday, Dec. 1 at 6 p.m. CST.

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