The Oklahoma City Thunder improved to 2-0 on the season against the Los Angeles Lakers with a come-from-behind victory at the Staples Center Thursday night. Just don’t ask about OKC’s other games, all of which they have lost.
Down 19 points in the second quarter, the Thunder stormed back to make it a four-point game at the half and tied it up with five to go in the third. They outscored the Lakers by 12 points in the fourth quarter, thanks to some gutsy shots from starlet Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and center Mike Muscala in the final minutes.
SGA with a heat seeking missile ☄️ pic.twitter.com/PhGHj449Fa
— Mike Mavredakis (@MikeMavredakis) November 5, 2021
The Thunder struggled with some shot-making in the first half, hitting just 28.6% of their three-point attempts in the opening two quarters. They cleaned that up a bit in the second half, though, hitting 48.8% from the floor and 42.1% from deep.
They also got a bit of help from an Anthony Davis thumb injury at the tail end of the first half. He had just 11 second-half points, leaving most of the offensive duties to the mostly efficient Russell Westbrook and always-smooth Carmelo Anthony as the Lakers were without LeBron James once again.
The Thunder got some rock-solid performances from their young squad against the oldest team in the NBA once again, so here are some player grades from their win.