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The Lakers had -- and still have, despite a slow start -- title
aspirations, while the Thunder are in the second year of a
near-complete rebuild.
Both times they've played this season, Los Angeles has opened up
a big lead, seemingly having the game well in hand, before
Oklahoma City launched a big comeback.
The Thunder came back to win both times, the first a 123-115 win
at home on Oct. 27 as they tied a franchise record by coming
back from 26 points down.
Then on Nov. 4 in Los Angeles, the Lakers led by 19 before
Oklahoma City came back for a 107-104 victory.
On Friday, the teams will play in Oklahoma City in the third of
four meetings.
It hasn't been just the Thunder who have given the Lakers fits
this season after Los Angeles built a lead.
The Lakers have lost nine games after being ahead by double
figures. In a 108-95 loss at Memphis on Thursday, they led by
nine in the first quarter before letting the lead slip away.
"There was just too much casualness to our approach," Lakers
coach Frank Vogel said.
It wasn't something that snuck up on Vogel.
"I wouldn't say I'm surprised," he said. "I've seen it with our
group this year."
The Lakers tied a season high with 22 turnovers Thursday,
leading to 27 points on the other end.
LeBron James became just the fifth player in NBA history to
record 100 career triple-doubles. Another is teammate Russell
Westbrook.
The Thunder enter Friday's game, the start of a four-game
homestand, having won back-to-back games -- both on the road.
A big part of Oklahoma City's recent success has been Darius
Bazley's play.
While Bazley is putting up the worst shooting numbers of his
three-year career, his defense has kept him in the lineup.
In wins at Detroit and Toronto, Bazley was even more of a
difference maker on the defensive end.
"His activity defensively, really all season but especially the
last few games, he's just really hard to score over," Thunder
coach Mark Daigneault said.
Just before this recent two-game stretch, Oklahoma City had
dropped eight in a row. But most of the games were close. Other
than the NBA-record 73-point loss at Memphis in the final game
of that losing streak, the six others were decided by an average
of seven points per game.
"We're a young team, and one of the things I think our team's
learning is the length of the game -- how long the game is and
how many ups and downs there are," Daigneault said. "I think
that's something that, as you get older and more experienced and
you get more games under your belt, you start to understand."
--Field Level Media
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