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Anthony Davis found his shooting stroke from the outside to finish with 34 points, LeBron James had a triple double and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope hit a huge shot in the final minute to seal a 112-107 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder. With the win, the Lakers improved to an NBA-best 12-2, which also happens to be the best start a LeBron team has had since the 2016-17 season.
Davis finished with 34 points, seven rebounds, four assists and four steals while James ended the night with 25 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists. With the triple double, LeBron became the first player in NBA history to record one against all 30 teams.
After closing the first half on an emphatic note with LeBron throwing down a lob from Rajon Rondo, the Lakers quickly found themselves on their heels against the Thunder who rallied to start the second half and closed the gap rapidly.
Dennis Schroeder provided 31 points in 27 minutes off the Oklahoma City bench to help them keep pace with the Lakers on a night where Davis had his shooting touch going better than he has at basically any point in the season to this point. Danilo Gallinari also had a solid game with 25 points.
Davis also hit on three 3-pointers for the first time so far this season, appearing to validate some of his statements from earlier in the day that his right shoulder was feeling better and was “getting closer to 100%.”
Oklahoma City stayed in the game in large part thanks to their scoring ability inside the 3-point line and their ability to draw fouls. The Thunder made things tighter with a couple of trips to the foul line by Gallinari to keep their hopes of the upset alive. The lead got to as low as 109-107 with 1:20 left but a 3-pointer by Caldwell-Pope put the Lakers up five to help put the Thunder away.
The Lakers have now won five straight games and they once again re-claimed the best record in the league, 1/2 game ahead of the 11-2 Boston Celtics.