Luka Doncic was the toast of his team-mates after his 30-point game helped the Los Angeles Lakers beat conference leaders Oklahoma City Thunder 126-99 on Sunday. (More Sports News)
NBA 2024-25: LA Lakers Can't Slip Up After Oklahoma City Thunder Victory, Players And Coach Say
The Lakers also broke a franchise record by scoring 15 three-pointers during the first half as they went 22 points ahead by half-time
Following the victory, the Lakers are third in the West on a 48-30 record with Doncic having already registered seven rebounds and six assists to go with his 30 points.
The Lakers also broke a franchise record by scoring 15 three-pointers during the first half as they went 22 points ahead by half-time.
Austin Reaves scored 20, while LeBron James added another 19 as the Lakers confirmed their playoff spot.
"Between Oklahoma and Cleveland, they're the best teams in the NBA," James said.
"Oklahoma are the number one team in the West so you can't let up no matter what the score is, they're always going to make a push. That's why they are where they are at this part of the season.
"So it's a really good win for us and we can build off it. We're just trying to build our habits right now, going into the final stretch of the year."
Reaves was in agreement with James' opinion that the Lakers cannot let up. Owing to the tight nature of the Western Conference, the Memphis Grizzlies in eighth (46-32) are just four games back on the third-placed Lakers.
바카라It바카라s huge,바카라 Reaves said. 바카라The way the standings are, you can go from third to eighth in the snap of a finger. So for us to come in and play such a good team the way we did tonight is big. Hopefully we can build on that momentum.바카라
Coach JJ Redick, meanwhile, was pleased with the professionalism of his team after doing the defensive work to allow them to perform at the other end of the court.
바카라Very committed to what we were trying to do defensively and very committed to where we felt like we could generate good shots offensively against a terrific defence," he said. "And there wasn바카라t any let up to that, there weren바카라t any overreactions.바카라
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The Lakers meet the Thunder again on Tuesday and man of the moment Doncic knows that there is no room for over-celebration after a good performance on Sunday.
"We gotta come out with the same mentality," he said. "They're No. 1 in the West for a reason. They're a very tough matchup, but we gotta come out with the same mentality."
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