On the heels of an impressively dominant win Friday night over the Dallas Mavericks, the Los Angeles Lakers will be back on the court against one of the only teams in the league that has a better record than them over the last 10 games in the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Although the Thunder aren’t blowing anybody away statistically, Chris Paul is leading them to a phenomenal season after basically everybody left them for dead following the trades of both Paul George and Russell Westbrook from the franchise. They’re 13th in defensive rating and 16th in offense, but that type of middle of the road competence is exactly what has them winning games.
In addition to Paul’s leadership and play in the clutch, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is their leading scorer at 19.8 points per game and Thunder thrive when those two play with their back-up point guard Dennis Schroeder in three-guard line-ups. Steven Adams is averaging a double-double on the inside and Danilo Gallinari is putting together another efficient season.
Although the Mavericks are higher in the standings, the Thunder have been playing better ball lately and will probably be a tougher challenge. The depth of the Thunder at point guard is in direct opposition to the Lakers biggest weakness, which should make for a very interesting ballgame.
The Lakers will likely be without Anthony Davis again, meaning the rest of the Lakers will need to step-up, especially LeBron James and Kyle Kuzma.
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