Chris Paul scored 21 points to lead the Oklahoma City Thunder to a 105-86 win over the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday near Orlando.
Paul added seven rebounds and six assists to keep up his strong performance since the NBA's restart. The veteran point guard is averaging 20.7 points in Oklahoma City's three games in central Florida.
The Lakers had their worst offensive game of the season, with season lows in points and 3-point percentage. Los Angeles was just 5 of 37 from behind the 3-point arc, with the 13.5 percent rate the Lakers' worst since early in the 2017-18 season.
Danilo Gallinari added 19 points and Steven Adams 18 for Oklahoma City, which once again was playing without backup point guard Dennis Schroder.
LeBron James led the Lakers with 19 points and 11 rebounds.
Los Angeles didn't find much offense outside of James, though.
Anthony Davis, who had put up big numbers in the Lakers' two wins over the last week, was in foul trouble for much of the game and finished 3 of 11 from the field for nine points.
The Thunder (42-25) got off to a quick start, jumping ahead by as many as 10 points in the first quarter.
The Lakers' offense stagnated for much of the game, especially late in the first quarter, when Los Angeles went five minutes without a field goal before James' reverse layup just before the buzzer.
Before that, the Lakers (51-16) had missed five consecutive field-goal tries, all from 3-point range. Los Angeles was 1 of 12 from behind the arc in the first.
Oklahoma City extended its lead to 20 late in the third quarter before the Lakers quickly trimmed the margin in half one minute into the fourth.
But then the Lakers once again couldn't get to the basket, settling for 3-point attempts, and the Thunder scored nine consecutive points to extend their lead to a comfortable margin once again.
Los Angeles went 0-for-5 from the field during the Oklahoma City run, with just one of those shots coming from inside the arc.
--Field Level Media
Oklahoma City | L.A. Lakers | |
Chris Paul 21 | Scoring | LeBron James 19 |
Chris Paul 6 | Assists | Anthony Davis 5 |
Steven Adams 7 | Rebounds | LeBron James 11 |
Danilo Gallinari 7 | Free Throws Made | LeBron James 5 |
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander 3 | Steals | Danny Green 2 |
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander 1 | Blocks | JaVale McGee 1 |
Team | Points | FG% | 3PM-3PA | FTM-FTA | Assists | Rebounds | Blocks | Steals | Turnovers |
Oklahoma City | 105 | 43.0 | 5-24 | 32-36 | 17 | 52 | 2 | 9 | 14 |
L.A. Lakers | 86 | 35.2 | 5-37 | 19-29 | 17 | 46 | 3 | 7 | 11 |