OKC Thunder Offense Crumbles in Loss to Los Angeles Lakers

In one of the ugliest games of its entire season, the Oklahoma City Thunder fell to the Los Angeles Lakers in a poor offensive outing from its star players.

Monday night was anything but pretty for the Oklahoma City Thunder.

In another matchup between it and the Los Angeles Lakers, its offense collapsed in a frustrating 116-104 loss, bringing it down from the sole possession of the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference.  

The Thunder as a collective unit had one of its worst offensive outings of the entire season, shooting just 39.4% from the field. It had a respectable 38.5% from behind the arc and 15-of-16 at the free throw line, but its issues inside the paint made those stats obsolete. As a result, it also lost the rebound battle 55-38.

Amidst an MVP-caliber campaign, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had one of his weakest games of the season as well. He stuffed the stat sheet and had some fantastic defensive plays, but even a 20-point, seven-rebound, four-assist, four-steal and two-block night can be considered underwhelming for a superstar talent.

The Lakers trio of LeBron James, Anthony Davis and D'Angelo Russell combined for a whopping 69 points, giving Oklahoma City issues all night. They attacked the Thunder defense at will, and Davis locked down the paint as part of the effort to keep it from gaining any momentum. 

Oklahoma City quickly jumped out of the gates to a 13-2 lead by hitting some quick shots and making defensive plays, giving it a huge boost in just the first four minutes of the game. That lead soon became irrelevant, however, as Los Angeles found a way to tie it 25-25 by the end of the first quarter. 

Gilgeous-Alexander struggled immensely in those 12 minutes, scoring six points on 1-of-7 shooting paired with a turnover. It was an uncharacteristically slow start for the MVP candidate, 

In just the opposite of the first quarter, the Thunder came out slow in the second. It couldn't buy a bucket for the first few minutes of it, allowing the Lakers to go on an 8-2 run and forcing head coach Mark Daigneault to call a timeout. 

Although the offense came to a halt, the Oklahoma City defense kept Los Angeles from gaining any dramatic lead until the very end of the first half. The Lakers put together a string of buckets to make the lead 52-43, capping off one of the ugliest halves of Thunder basketball all season. 

The third quarter wasn't any prettier. Although Oklahoma City had it within three points at the 6:15 mark, it quickly fell apart in the latter half to bring it to a 17-point deficit head into the fourth. 

And it all but sealed its fate. 

Los Angeles didn't need much to secure the win, but Russell's back-to-back-to-back triples at the start of the fourth quarter cemented the fact that it just wasn't the Thunder's night. The rest of the game served as garbage time, ending Oklahoma City's recent joy on a sour note.

The Thunder will stay on the road to face the Portland Trail Blazers (17-43) on Wednesday, March 6 at 9:00 p.m. CT, hoping to get back on a winning path. 

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