Tag: Oklahoma City Thunder

Fan captures video of LeBron telling ref he plays defense ‘it’s a new year’

Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James joked to a ref regarding past headlines about him not playing defense, saying this is a new year.

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With the wins coming in and the defense of the Los Angeles Lakers shutting teams down on a nightly basis, the vibes are as good as they’ve ever been during the LeBron James era of the franchise history. And it was not long ago that things looked like they may never see sunny days again after injuries and trade rumors torpedoed their season.

But even before LeBron got hurt last season, there was a growing belief in basketball circles that him playing defense was a thing of the past. Even his best Cleveland teams were never elite defensively and it was basically an unspoken form of load management, within games. But James read all the headlines over the seven months that he was away from the NBA lights and he’s even using that perception in arguments with the referees.

Thanks to a fan filming court side at the right time, we have footage of LeBron joking to the referee that he may have heard “he doesn’t play defense” but that this season is “a new year.”

This is the kind of stuff that makes things like LeBron’s “#WashedKing” comments more acceptable, when basically everyone had previously accepted that he wouldn’t play defense in the regular season. This season, James has flipped the script on his defense as he is a key part of the NBA’s best defense while he is also leading the NBA in assists for the first time in his career.

LeBron may have given the comments he received a name and a title, but as he pointed out last night, he does have a bit of point: his defense has been different this season.

Kyle Kuzma will play Friday against the Thunder

Kuzma suffered an eye abrasion when Darius Bazley hit him with an elbow in the second quarter of the Lakers 112-107 win on Tuesday night.

Kyle Kuzma took a nasty shot to the face from Thunder rookie Darius Bazley on Tuesday night.

The incident occurred in the second quarter of Oklahoma City’s 112-107 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers when Bazley was driving towards the basket with Kuzma guarding him.

Kuzma left the game with blood pouring from his right eye. He did return to the bench after halftime but did not come back into the game.

Per Yahoo! Sports, Lakers head coach, Larry Vogel, told reporters after the game that Kuzma suffered an eye abrasion and that he used his “better judgment” to keep Kuzma on the bench in the second half.

According to The Los Angeles Times, the Lakers said on Wednesday that Kuzma will play in Friday’s game in Oklahoma City despite the eye abrasion.

Kuzma is the Lakers’ third-leading scoring, averaging 13.1 points per game. He’s also pulling down 3.9 rebounds and .6 assists in 22.2 minutes per game.

Kyle Kuzma’s eye injury looked bad but he could have returned Tuesday

The Los Angeles Lakers won on Tuesday night despite losing Kyle Kuzma early on with a gross-looking eye injury against Oklahoma City.

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Although the Los Angeles Lakers got out of Staples Center with another home win Tuesday night, and again holding the NBA’s best record at 12-2, they didn’t get out unscathed. Kyle Kuzma’s left eye got caught by the finger of Oklahoma City’s Darius Bazley during a drive in the first half, causing blood to come from Kuzma’s eye and his eventual exit from the game.

Kuzma returned to the Lakers bench in his warm-ups where he cheered on his squad. But he did not reenter the game; he played only nine minutes on Tuesday. The decision for Kuzma not to reenter the game was made by coach Frank Vogel.

According to Silver Screen and Roll’s Harrison Faigen, Vogel said:

He was available. The medical team said if we really needed him we could put him back in. I used my better judgement. It didn’t look good, and I just felt like unless we absolutely needed him, let’s let the other guys handle the rest of the game.

Although the Kuzma injury looked gruesome on the court, it’s good to hear that it’s not too serious. Especially when you consider that Kuzma had already spent the last four months rehabbing from a stress reaction in his leg.

Now that the Lakers have a few days at home before they head out on their first four-game road trip of the season, Kuzma will presumably have time to let his eye abrasion heal before they kick off the trip against the same Thunder squad they played last night.

Steven Adams still dealing with left knee injury

Billy Donovan said Wednesday that the Thunder are keeping a close eye on his minutes. Adams first suffered a left knee contusion in October.

Hamidou Diallo isn’t the only player on the Thunder dealing with a left knee issue.

Steven Adams, who has been hampered by his left knee since late last month, is still dealing with a nagging injury.

Adams missed three games after suffering a left knee contusion in a loss against the Rockets on Oct. 28.

He returned to the starting lineup against the Pacers on Nov. 12, but played just 24 minutes against the Lakers Tuesday night, down a little from his season average of 26.3.

Adams was not on the floor in the closing minutes of the Thunder’s five-point loss, and head coach Billy Donovan told The Oklahoman that Oklahoma City is keeping a close eye on Adams’ court time.

“Obviously we’re dealing with Steven’s knee still,” Thunder coach Billy Donovan said of the decision. “I don’t want to say he’s on a minutes restriction, but we’re trying to be mindful and keep him in a range.”

Adams is an integral part of the Thunder, and Oklahoma City desperately needs his production, which has declined in comparison to last season.

As noted by Joe Mussatto, Adams’ 26.3 minutes per game are “down from 33.4 minutes last season. His scoring has dropped from 13.9 points per game to 7.8 points per game. Adams, a career 58.6 percent shooter, is shooting 50.6 percent from the floor this season.”

Diallo is also dealing with left knee soreness and has been held out of Oklahoma City’s last three games.

The Thunder will have two days off to recover before hosting the Los Angeles Lakers Friday at 7 p.m. CT.

Schröder’s 31 not enough to overcome LeBron, Lakers

LeBron James has now recorded a triple-double against every team in the NBA as the Lakers edged the Thunder 112-107 on Tuesday night.

In the same city in the same arena, it was a different opponent, but still the same result.

The Thunder came up short against the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday night, falling 112-107, a game in which they could never quite catch up.

Dennis Schröder scored a season-high 31 off the bench, hitting on 12 of his 20 shot attempts. Danilo Gallinari added 25 while Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Nerlens Noel chipped in 16 and 15, respectively.

A night after leading Oklahoma City in scoring, Chris Paul scored only four points but did dish out 10 assists.

The Thunder have now dropped four of the last five and remain winless on the road.

Per ESPN, for the second night in a row, head coach Billy Donovan thought his team did the right things but couldn’t quite close it out at the end.

“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.”

Oklahoma City will have the next two days off to rest and return home, something that could be particularly important for Thunder guard Hamidou Diallo, as he missed his third straight game with left knee soreness.

Also of note – LeBron became the first player in NBA history to record a triple-double against every team in the league with Tuesday night’s 25 points, 11 rebound, and 10 assists performance.

The two teams will meet again in just three days in Oklahoma City. Tip-off inside Chesapeake Energy Arena is set for 7 p.m. CT.

LeBron James becomes first player in history to record triple-double vs. every NBA team

LeBron James becomes first player in NBA history to record triple-double against every team in league and receives celebratory message from his mother.

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LeBron James totaled 25 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists during the Los Angeles Lakers’ 112-107 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday. In doing so, King James became the first player in NBA history to record a triple-double against all 30 teams in the league. LeBron now ranks fifth all-time in career triple-doubles with 86.

Entering the game against the Thunder, LeBron and Russell Westbrook each had triple-doubled against 29 different franchises. Jason Kidd had triple-doubled against 28 different teams, while Larry Bird and Magic Johnson had done so against 25 teams and 24 teams, respectively. But nobody had ever earned double digits in three categories during a game against every team in the league prior to LeBron doing so last night.

Lakers coach Frank Vogel told his team in the locker room following their 12th win of the season:

LeBron James made NBA history tonight. He became the first player in the league to have a triple-double against every team in the NBA with his triple-double tonight.

In addition to Frank Vogel and his teammates showing love for the milestone, LeBron also received a celebratory message from his mother that he shared on Instagram.

“Congratulations kid!” Gloria James wrote, adding:

On being the first player in league history to score a triple-double against all the teams in the league!!!! You are the GOAT. You should celebrate tonight. Love you.

The Lakers will play a home-and-home with the Thunder as they are now travel to Oklahoma City for a rematch with the team they just beat on Friday. They will then complete their road back-to-back by traveling to Memphis for a date with Ja Morant and the Grizzlies on Saturday, before meeting the San Antonio Spurs on Monday.

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Anthony Davis finds shooting stroke in Lakers win over Thunder

On the same day that Anthony Davis said his shoulder was feeling better, the Los Angeles Lakers big man was on-fire from the field.

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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.

 

LeBron James with amazing slam dunk to close strong half for Lakers

LeBron James closed out the first half with an incredible slam dunk off of an assist from Rajon Rondo against Oklahoma City.

LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers brought plenty of energy against a tired Oklahoma City Thunder squad playing on the second night of the back-to-back. But perhaps no play accentuated that feeling quite like the last Lakers possession of the first half when LeBron threw down a monstrous slam dunk off an assist from Rajon Rondo.

The assist was Rondo’s ninth of the first half as he looked very much in control during his minutes on the court, perhaps the most in control he has looked since returning to the Lakers line-up earlier this month. James continued to show his explosiveness while Anthony Davis’ shooting was much improved on Tuesday night compared to his season averages.

LeBron didn’t have quite as great of a shooting night as he did against Atlanta but it didn’t matter quite as much in the first half of Tuesday’s game because Davis was so good from the outside, scoring 19 points to lead L.A. against Oklahoma City.

If the Lakers manage to hold on they will maintain their hold on the NBA’s best record while also matching the best start a LeBron team has had since 2016-17.

 

LeBron James toys with Thunder, looking back after steal on way to dunk

LeBron James had some fun after a steal on his way to an easy dunk the first half of the Los Angeles Lakers game against Oklahoma City.

LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers are having quite a bit of fun these days. How could you blame them? They came into Tuesday night’s match up against the Oklahoma City Thunder with the best record in the NBA and the NBA’s No. 1 ranked defense.

With Oklahoma City coming in after a grueling loss to the Los Angeles Clippers, LeBron James and the Lakers came out with a lot of energy in the early going of Tuesday night’s match up against the Thunder. James and Anthony Davis, as has been the case the whole season, led the charge for L.A.

James brought that energy as much anybody on the Lakers team, with 13 points, four assists and five rebounds in the first half. That included this steal and dunk by James, where he looked back at the Thunder after his big play.

After saying that his shoulder was already feeling better, Anthony Davis backed up that talk with an fantastic first quarter of shooting. Davis went 7-for-11 from the field for 19 points, four steals and two assists as the Lakers amassed a 63-53 lead at halftime on Tuesday night.

Report: Hamidou Diallo out against the Lakers

Diallo will miss his third straight game as the Thunder guard continues to deal with left knee soreness.

Hamidou Diallo will miss his third straight game on Tuesday.

Billy Donovan announced the decision a little over an hour before tip-off against the Lakers, at around 8:15 p.m CT.

Diallo was first held out of Friday’s win over the 76ers with left knee soreness. He suffered an injury during the Thunder’s loss to the Pacers last week, however, no details about how or when the injury occurred has been made available.

According to The Oklahoman, Donovan had said on Friday that he didn’t expect Diallo to miss much game time.

“We don’t think it’s going to be a thing that requires him sitting out for a long stretch,” Donovan said.

In 10 games this season, Diallo is averaging 8.8 points and 4.0 rebounds in 22 minutes per game while shooting 50% from the field.

Oklahoma City wraps up their two-game West Coast road trip Tuesday night against the Lakers. The Thunder fell 90-88 to the Clippers inside the Staples Center on Monday.