Field Level Media
Jan 11, 2020
Kyle Kuzma scored a season-high 36 points to lead the Los Angeles Lakers to a 125-110 road win over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Saturday night.
The win was the Lakers' eighth consecutive.
The Lakers led by as many as 32 points in the second half, but the Thunder cut the lead to just 11 with less than three minutes remaining before Kuzma hit back-to-back shots to put the game firmly in control once again.
Kuzma was 4 of 6 from behind the 3-point line.
For the second consecutive night, the Lakers put together a monster first quarter.
In Friday night's win in Dallas, Los Angeles scored 45 points in the opening frame without Anthony Davis.
In Oklahoma City, the Lakers scored 41 points in the first 12 minutes without its two biggest stars.
Davis missed his second consecutive game with a contusion of his gluteus maximus.
LeBron James was held out with flu-like symptoms.
James had been listed on the injury report due to illness prior to Friday's win in Dallas, where he finished with 35 points, a season-high 16 rebounds and seven assists.
But James couldn't battle through it Saturday on the second of a back-to-back.
"His chest was burning all throughout the game," Lakers coach Frank Vogel said before Saturday's game. "We had to get him out early in the first quarter. I was using timeouts to get him rest, but most of my timeouts last night were centered around helping him fight through the chest cold."
Los Angeles was without a third starter, as Danny Green missed with right hip soreness.
The Lakers jumped out to the big lead, thanks in part to hot 3-point shooting. Los Angeles shot 76.9 percent from behind the arc in the first half. The Thunder were just 2 of 14 from long distance before halftime.
Rajon Rondo added 21 points and 12 rebounds for the Lakers.
Danilo Gallinari and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 24 points each to lead the Thunder, who lost for just the second time in nine games.
--Field Level Media