LOS ANGELES (AFP) — Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 33 points to propel the Oklahoma City Thunder to a 133-110 National Basketball Association victory over LeBron James and the weary Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday.
Gilgeous-Alexander connected on 11 of 18 shots from the field and made all 10 of his free throws.
Jalen Williams scored 21 points and rookie center Chet Holmgren added 18 for the Thunder, who had seven players in double figures.
Anthony Davis led Los Angeles with 31 points and 14 rebounds. James had 21 points, 12 rebounds and six assists for the Lakers, who led by as many as 14 points in the first half but couldn’t keep the pressure on in the second night of a back-to-back and with a bevy of players nursing injuries.
Oklahoma City outscored Los Angeles 42-23 in the second quarter to lead 72-60 at halftime and never trailed the rest of the way.
“I thought we played really good ball the first quarter,” James said. “But after that, you could start seeing the three in four (nights), back-to-back, the bodies that we don’t have started to wear on us… especially versus a young team like OKC.”
In Chicago, the short-handed Bulls held off Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks 120-113 in overtime.
Nikola Vucevic scored 29 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for the Bulls, who were without injured Zach LaVine and DeMar DeRozan.
Alex Caruso drained a three-pointer at the buzzer to send it to overtime, and Patrick Williams’s dunk capped the scoring in the extra session.
