Kobe Bryant, Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook own six of the NBA’s last 10 scoring titles, but while Bryant sat out due to a sore shoulder, the Oklahoma City duo went to work feasting on the Lakers’ defense.
Durant stayed hot throughout his 30 minutes on the floor, racking up 22 points on a 7-of-13 clip. Meanwhile, Westbrook was at his best finding teammates, as he finished with his 18th double-double of the season (13 points, 11 assists) in the Thunder’s 118-78 win Saturday evening.
L.A. trailed by 46 in the final two minutes, teetering on the largest losing margin in franchise history (48).
“Kobe’s fearless,” head coach Byron Scott said. “These (other) guys looked like they were scared tonight — intimidated by Durant and Westbrook for whatever reason. Obviously the game got out of hand real early, and I just thought (the Thunder) were just in attack mode from the starting buzzer to the end.”
Indeed, the Lakers (4-23) never challenged the home team in their seventh consecutive loss in Oklahoma City, falling behind 35-15 after the first quarter. The Thunder’s offense was clicking all game long, as they shot an opponent season-high 54.8 percent from the field, while doubling L.A.’s 14 assists.
Thanks in part to Enes Kanter (19 points, 14 rebounds), Oklahoma City also outscored L.A. in the paint, 50-26.
While the Thunder (18-9) erupted, Lou Williams was the only Laker to impress. The reigning Sixth Man of the Year tallied 20 points and three steals in 27 minutes. He shot 5-of-11 from the field and 4-of-6 on 3-pointers, while his teammates combined to go 25-of-75 and 4-of-22, respectively.
“The guys on the court have to learn from it,” Scott said. “They didn’t play well at all. They really just got embarrassed by the way we played tonight, and I told them it was pathetic in every area. We didn’t come to compete. They just played harder than we did. And like I said, it just looked like we were in awe of that team.”
That drift from Lou Will though. #GoLakers 1st quarter on @TWCSportsNet |@TWCDeportes https://t.co/RY1zzCR5nz
Mamba Out Bryant missed his first game in a month, but Scott said that team doctors didn’t think the injury would be serious. Bryant expects to play in the Lakers’ next game on Tuesday in Denver.
“It was pretty heavy-duty surgery I had this summer,” Bryant said, referring to the operation which repaired his torn rotator cuff. “I think it’s kind of logical to expect it to be sore at some point. Just got to get ahead of it. Just rest and come back ready to play.”
Bryant said that his soreness did not begin with his highlight dunk against Houston Thursday, instead inferring that his four consecutive missed foul shots in that game helped tip him off to his ailment.
“I’m sure it didn’t help,” Bryant said. “But I don’t miss four free throws out of the blue. It was bugging me before that.”
Notes Anthony Brown took Bryant’s place in the opening lineup, finishing with four points in his starting debut. … Julius Randle was held scoreless until the 5:41 mark of the fourth quarter. … A sold-out crowd of 18,203 filled Chesapeake Energy Arena.
