Lebron’s historic triple double led the Lakers to a victory 112–107 against the Thunder
Anthony Davis scored 34 points (13–24 FG, 3–5 3s, 7 rebounds, 4 assists, 4 steals, 2 blocks), Lebron James finished the game with 25 points, 11 rebounds, 10 assists (his 5th triple-double this season — against his 30th opponent for the NBA-leading Lakers, who have won 12 of 13 after a perfect four-game homestand) and the Lakers handed the Thunder their sixth consecutive loss on the road (their record away from home is 0–6) by beating them 112–107 at Staples Center on Tuesday night.
“Amazing,” Davis said about Lebron’s accomplishment. “To be able to do that against every team is something special. I mean, (it’s) trippy that he’s been playing for a long time, so it was a matter of time before it happened, but just a tribute to all his hard work.”
James is fifth in NBA history with 86 triple-doubles, but the four players in front of him — Oscar Robertson, Russell Westbrook, Lakers great Magic Johnson and Lakers assistant coach Jason Kidd — hadn’t done it against 30 teams. Kidd, who did it against 28 teams, has served as a role model for James’ efforts as a tall point guard.
“He’s just playing terrific basketball,” Vogel said. “For him to be doing what he’s doing in his 17th year is just nothing short of remarkable. There’s no reason to believe he can’t sustain that for the rest of the season and help us make a real strong playoff push.”
The game started with both teams making some easy-uncontested shots. With two minutes left in the first quarter the Lakers got their biggest lead (+8) with the score 17–25 and then the Thunder responded really fast by making two shots and reducing the difference to 21–25 score with 2 minutes left in 1st quarter. Lebron had 4 turnovers in the first quarter, something that gave the Thunder the opportunity to run the floor and make some attempts but unfortunately missed all of them.
“Coach (Frank) Vogel came in here and said, ‘Congratulations,’ and I thought he was joking about my seven turnovers,” James said. “I really don’t know what to think about it. I just think it’s a pretty cool stat to know, and I’m glad it happened in a win.”
In the second quarter, the Thunder made some mistakes and let the Lakers to build a bigger lead (+11), when the score was 41–47 and Danny Green made an uncontested three and after that Dwight Howard made a dunk after KCP missed an easy layup. The Thunder didn’t stop responding and cutting the lead that Lakers had at any point of the game but they couldn’t leave with the victory; big factor that cost them the game was the 11 out of their total 15 turnovers that they got in the first half and that’s how Lakers got 20 fast-break points.
It was a tough game for the Thunder who played back-to-back games at Staples Center, as the other night faced the LA Clippers and lost by two points 88–90. Former Thunder player Paul George hit a three-point shot with 13.3 seconds remaining in the clock and Gallinari couldn’t make the last basket.
In the beginning of the third quarter Danilo Gallinari made 2 free-throws and in the next play hit a three-point shot that brought the Thunder from 55–65 to 60–65 with 10:18 minutes left in the third. Then Terrence Ferguson hit another three from the corner and the Thunder started the second half a 10–0 run that put them back to -2 points (63–65). The Thunder couldn’t take the lead and they went to the 4th quarter 87–93. This quarter was all Lebron James, who hit a mid-range shot and a 3-point shot to build a 11-point lead for the Lakers (87–98) with 9:41 minutes left. Two minutes later James hit a floater for the 91–100. Later in the game when the score was 98–109, the covered most of the difference with a 9–0 run for the Thunder to get one breathe behind with only two points (107–109) to hold them from tying the game. Kentavious Caldwell Pope made a 3-point shot and the game got to the end.
The advantage that the Lakers have over all the other teams is the length that they have — and we saw that again tonight when the Thunder couldn’t find a way to stop Lebron James and Anthony Davis. Thunder coach Billy Donovan played his card on the game by putting Deonte Burton to guard Lebron, a late-made decision that kind of worked but it was too late in the game.
Dennis Schroder , who averaged 13 points per game before this one, scored 20 of his season-high 31 points in the first half. He was 8/11 from the field and finished the game with 12/20 FG and 3/7 from the perimeter. Schroder had his 10th career 30-point game. Danilo Gallinari added 25 points (7/11 FG, 2–5 3s, 6 rebounds, 1 assist) in his former home arena, and Nerlens Noel had a fantastic game in both ends got 15 points (7/11 FG, 8 rebounds, 1 assist, 3 steals) for the Thunder.
“That’s why (James) is considered probably the best of all time, but I think we did a great job on him,” Schroder said. “They obviously hit some tough shots.”
“There’s a lot of things we did well in there,” Oklahoma City coach Billy Donovan said. “But, you know, we came up short in all these games. I think the one sign you can point to is both teams, the Clippers and the Lakers, are really, really good teams, so we’re competing well at a high level. But we’ve just got to do more in order to be able to finish and close out games.”
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