Los Angeles Lakers: 3 takeaways from victory vs. Oklahoma City Thunder

Here are three takeaways from the Los Angeles Lakers’ second win over the Oklahoma City Thunder in their back-to-back set.

The Los Angles Lakers squeezed out a close,130-127 win, for their 6th straight victory to keep them atop the Western Conference with what is the best record in the NBA at 13-2. However, the Lakers once again decided to play with their food instead of eating it.

The Oklahoma City Thunder out hustled LA in the first half, but, the Lakers responded in the 3rd. They went on a 28-12 run, hitting their first five 3-pointers, at one point leading by 15 in the 3rd quarter. To Lakers fans’ frustration, instead of continuing their dominance, the Lakers let the pesky Thunder fight all the way back to eventually tie the game up.

The team seems to be trying to idle their way through most of these games against not so elite competition, and then really lock in on both ends for a few minutes to get enough separation to close out the game on their terms.

While this tactic can work against teams like the Thunder, the Lakers will have to play with more focus and intensity for 48 minutes in the high profile games if they want to continue to rack up W’s.

While there was some frustration with periods of little effort on defense, they made up for it on the offensive end with some great ball movement, leading to the efficient shooting, and a few jaw-dropping highlights. Oh, also Rajon Rondo decided to act out a bit and get himself ejected for the 2nd time in his Laker career, let’s have a look at what went down.

• In the first half, both Dennis Schroder and Rajon Rondo got into a jawing match that earned them a double technical.
• One can only assume that Rondo held a grudge from that because, in the 2nd half, Rondo decided to deliver a sneaky, but not so subtle, knee to the groin of Schroder!

Rondo also had some choice words for the official as he begrudgingly left the court while being escorted by his teammates and was lucky not to receive an additional technical foul.

You might remember last year early in the season Rondo got himself ejected against the Rockets for slyly spitting in the face of Chris Paul, which caused what was probably the biggest fight in the NBA last season. He is earning himself a bit of a reputation for being dirty.

Frank Vogel and the rest of his staff will be hoping this is a one-time thing this season considering the veteran point guard’s excellent passing ability has been key for the team since his return from injury. He had quite the inbound pass to end the half that helped produce one of those incredible highlights I mentioned:

• Lebron’s OBJ-Esque catch #WashedKing

https://twitter.com/Lakers/status/1198062612203724801

What else is there to say other than WOW, Lebron is certainly showing us rumors of his athletic demise were greatly exaggerated. Not only the catch, but the IQ to quickly deliver a pass right to Kentavious Caldwell-Pope just in time to beat the buzzer. Plays like this are why LeBron James has now had over 10 assists in 7 straight games and is the NBA leader in assists per game.

Now, time for the three takeaways from the game!