The Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder 116-104 on Monday night. D’Angelo Russell scored 26 points and made five 3-pointers, while Anthony Davis contributed 24 points and 12 rebounds.

The Lakers won their tenth game in a row behind 19 points, 11 rebounds, and 8 assists from LeBron James. The Lakers, who defeated the Thunder, who were leading the Western Conference, for the third time in a row, won the season series with 16 points from Austin Reaves, who also made four 3-pointers.

Russell remarked, “You can’t relax because they’re so well-coached.” “That team has all the tools necessary to succeed and perform well at this level. You must be prepared to play with those men. Beating them is no accident.

James was on the verge of a triple-double in his first game back after recording his career’s 40,000th point in a defeat to Denver, but the Lakers’ commanding lead prevented him from playing the last six minutes. Since the Lakers made six 3-pointers in a row to increase their advantage to 25 points while Davis was out, he was able to sit out the whole fourth quarter.

Russell added more flair to his three-pointers on three straight plays to cap up the Lakers’ thrilling comeback.

“When I’m hot, my teammates find me,” Russell remarked. “It’s easier when I can extend the floor in that manner. That is the effect of shooting. It’s enjoyable.

With 9:06 remaining, Russell passed to James before his third 3-pointer, but James quickly returned the ball to him for a shot that left Russell sprawled on his back due to unauthorized defensive contact. The shot put the Lakers up 103-79 and brought James a standing ovation.

Russell remarked, “I didn’t know I made the shot.” “I kind of tossed it up there,” Fortuitous strike.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander finished with 20 points to lead the Thunder, who lost for just the second time in nine games. This broke his record of eight straight 30-point performances. Chet Holmgren and Lu Dort each contributed 15 points.

Coach Mark Daigneault of the Thunder stated, “Our offensive performance was strong at first, but overall we just lacked sharpness.” “We kept ourselves in the game defensively because we turned them over several times. But tonight, definitely not our fastball. Simply put, I didn’t think our attacking wit was as sharp as it needed to be. It’s necessary to hit shots against a squad with that much size and physicality, but we didn’t do it frequently enough.

Oklahoma City, playing on somewhat tired legs during the third stop of a four-game road trip that featured a tiring victory at Phoenix on Sunday, made a season-low 30.6% of its shots in the first half.

Reaves stated, “They’re obviously coming off a tough back-to-back.” But it says something about your offensive and defensive play anytime you can defeat a squad of that calibre with confidence heading into the fourth. .. It feels fantastic to defeat a team like that that has been playing excellent basketball and it gives you some energy moving forward.

In the first half, neither team was playing at their best. Despite committing 12 mistakes, the Thunder quickly built a 12-point lead before going into a 2-for-21 shooting slump that let the Lakers build a double-digit lead.

Due to a damaged left knee, Oklahoma City big player Jaylin Williams missed his second consecutive game. In his first game back for the Thunder after joining them from Detroit, Mike Muscala scored five points in eleven minutes.

In the closing minutes, Harry Giles III made his Lakers debut.