Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - Luka Dončić Scores 30, Lakers DEFENSE DOMINATES THUNDER in 126-99 Win!

Starting point is 00:00:00 Hey everyone, welcome to Locked on Lakers for Monday. Brian Keminetsky, Andy Kaminetsky, Lakers send a huge statement to the thunder and the NBA. They win the first half of this semi back-to-back thing. 126.99. Huge performances up and down. Great afternoon. Talk about it next. You are locked on Lakers. Your daily Los Angeles Lakers podcast. Part of the Locked on podcast network. Your team every day. Thanks to everybody for making Locked on Lakers. first listen of every day Monday through Friday. No matter how where you get your podcast, this one's always free. Of course, never, ever behind a paywall.

Starting point is 00:00:41 We wouldn't do that to you. Locked on Lakers on YouTube is where you can go hang out with over 34,000 subscribers, Andy, all of whom are wondering if they will ever get a birthday gift as nice as the one that the Lakers gave you on Sunday, on your birthday. 126 to 99, the Lakers win. I was so excited about this game, Andy, that I blew right through our channel guidance about how long those cold opens are. supposed to be. I just kept talking. I was so excited. This episode, Andy, people should know,

Starting point is 00:01:10 is brought to you by Fandul. Right now, new customers can get $250 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins. But I mean, if you're going to get excited, how about going into Oklahoma City and blowing out the best team in the Western Conference by 27 points in a game that they controlled throughout? This is about as well as the Lakers have played all. season on both sides of the ball, the execution offensively, defensively. And then when you take into account the stakes this late in the season in terms of them trying to maintain at minimum top four status, get at least one round of home court, maximum try to maintain the third seed.

Starting point is 00:01:55 And also, this is, this game and Tuesday are there opportunities to see how they match up against the thunder. you know, this new look version of themselves, actually seeing what it's like against this Thunder team that make no mistake after today, they are still a great, really strong opponent. Just we're going to try to say as many good things as possible about this team over the next 30-ish minutes. But it would be damn hard to really compliment them on all the levels deserved because they were just, they were just terrific this afternoon.

Starting point is 00:02:33 I mean, just across the board, great performances. They finished 22 of 40 from three point range. That obviously does not fully explain the shooting. I think they were 15 of their first 20 from three point range. Obviously that is going to distort, you know, your offensive performance can make things look better than maybe they actually. But if it were only that and it and that was the only thing that, you know, they, they, they, won 126 to 122, and then you look back and say, my God, they shot the lights out and they won by four.

Starting point is 00:03:11 You look at this game differently, but the defense was insanely good throughout. And Andy, we've talked about it. We have waited to see kind of big games. Obviously, he's had good moments with the Lakers already. But like this was an example of Luca Donchich. looking like, oh, Luca Donchich in a game of great significance. He finishes with 30 points, 11 of 20 from the floor, 5 of 11 from 3 point range, 7 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 steals,

Starting point is 00:03:47 part of this great defensive effort. And we noted going into this game, the offense and the Lakers look different when Luca is efficient. And particularly when he gets off to good starts, he was both of those things on Sunday. We talked about after the win on Friday against the zombie the Pelicans, like obviously. The Zealicans.

Starting point is 00:04:06 The Zealicans, the Pelicans, the Pelicans, the Pelicans, the Pelicans, like, obviously putting up that, those type of numbers against the Pelicans, you have to contextually acknowledge what it is to score against that team. But our hope had been, Luca, after a rough first quarter, was really good for the rest of that game offensively, very efficient for the rest of the game offensively. He put up 23. on seven of nine shooting in the second half. And our hope was this represents some rhythm for Luca moving forward into this game on Sunday.

Starting point is 00:04:43 You know, both of us take notes during the game. Luca hits his first step back attempt in this game. And in my notes, I wrote good sign question mark. And then once he hit another step back over Isaiah Hartenstein, both of his opening two stepbacks were over. Hartnstein. I'm like, okay, this is starting to look good. And then before you, before you even realize it, Luca is just emptying the bag in this game. Like all of his moves inside, outside, circus shots, hesitation dribbles, step back, spins, everything was on display in this game. Luca was just putting on a Luca Dachachic clinic.

Starting point is 00:05:33 He was phenomenal in this. And it was one of those games, too, where, like, the passing was super high level. That always is, that has not slumped. Just ask Gabe Vincent. That's what I was getting. But that, like, in Redick referred to one of these moments in the post game, you know, hitting the smith. No NBA head coach loves using insider basketball terminology more than J.J. Reddick.

Starting point is 00:05:59 So he was talking about hitting the smash, which in this case was Gabe Vincent in the corner. And he's like, it's everywhere. And that was the play that you'll see on sports. And if you watch it in real time, Andy, it looked like a glitch in like the space time fabric. Because Luke is going up and you see the ball go backwards. And you're wondering, like, how did that happen? It's almost like a carry on a shot, the way like a camera. Carrying, you know, the illegal dribble carrying, like the way he was spinning his hand around.

Starting point is 00:06:36 I don't know what he did, but he tore a tiny hole in the, in the, in the, in the space time continuum. And it led to a Gabe Benson three. And, you know, he's, it was just, you know, I still don't think he's 100% healthy and all these other things. But in terms of getting more of the performance that shows you what was, you know, kind of what he is. capable of what it looks like in these big moments, that was it. And then you start going down the line. And the balance for the Lakers was really there. Austin Reeves was very strong, particularly, again, in the first half in the Lakers, built up, you know, a significant lead. He finishes with 20 points.

Starting point is 00:07:17 LeBron kind of cruised to 19 and 7. And, you know, Rui was good. Dorian Finney Smith had four three-pointers off the bench and Gabe Vincent had four three-pointers. off the bench. It was just this game, from an offensive standpoint, the shot creation was excellent. There was, you know, a tremendous amount of good looks that were created. I forget, which was the Indiana game where they had something like this, where it was just like, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.

Starting point is 00:07:48 And wow, every one of these shots is a good looking shot. And, you know, what they did on Sunday was then they turned around and made all of those. I want to quickly address a comment from Alice Barley in the comments section. As always, we encourage everybody to be active, leave comments, try to use them in the show. Luca never went away. Media, media want him to wonder what makes you happy. This is a five-man game. I just hate when I hear generational talent.

Starting point is 00:08:17 Do you think everyone can slam on him? Look, Luca said after the New Orleans win that that first quarter was, I believe he said, the worst quarter of his career. Luca has said after a few of these games that his efficiency was not there, whether win or loss, because it's come up in both, there's no excuse for me playing this well. I have to be better. It's unacceptable. We are holding Luca to Luca's standards. Like, we're not trying to nitpick at everything that he does. You and I certainly have not been, you know, whatever media has been slamming him for conditioning or whatever stuff, that isn't us. But at the same time, superstars are held to exceptionally high standards because they are superstars.

Starting point is 00:09:08 And the ones holding them to those standards, forget what people like Brian and I or whoever else in the media, whatever standard we hold them to, this is the standard they hold themselves to. So if we gloss over games where Luca is clearly struggling from the field, we're just doing dishonest coverage of the game. You guys have eyes. We've never been on. We don't take shots at players, but we also don't, you know, we're not here to be their PR people either. Like, Luca doesn't need us to be as PR people. No. is what we were talking about was and remains when, you know, we're not talking about, you know,

Starting point is 00:09:54 a bunch of 47% things. Why isn't he shooting 56? But he's had five or six games of the last 10. I think it is five games of the last 10 where he was under 40%. Right. That's not good. And, you know, it limits the upside that the Lakers have and it limits the upside that the offense has because this is Luca Donchich's offense. And so they need him to round into form. And, you know, this is, this is basically kind of what it looks like. And, you know, but what gets you excited too is it's when, when you see the offense operate this way and you see Luca looking, you know, at least today, physically more comfortable and feeling, seeming like he was a little bit more dialed in in that way. As JJ said, you know, these big games, these big situations have a way of doing that for, for the

Starting point is 00:10:43 most talented players in the league, you start to again see what the possibilities are because they still have LeBron as a shot creator and they still have Austin Reeves as a shot creator. And those guys are getting the ball in advantageous positions to do things. And then the shots that trickle down to Dorian Finney Smith to Gabe Vincent are pristine. So we'll talk about a little bit more about that, Andy, but the star of the show really was LA's defense on Sunday. And so that's where we're going to go next. Locked-on Lakers is brought to you by Monarch Money.

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Starting point is 00:12:18 Use the code locked on NBA at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year. That's monarchmoney.com code locked on NBA for half off your first year. You know, Andy, it's one thing to put up numbers against a team like Oklahoma City. And they shot the lights out. It's like, okay, you're Oklahoma. They're not going to do that twice, whatever. But the part that is really impressive is how they shut down the thunder, who are an excellent offensive team for four quarters.

Starting point is 00:13:01 It was a consistent four quarter effort. It is aided by the offense. You're constantly setting your defense, all that kind of stuff. They didn't turn the ball over, whatever. They were really good defensively, really good, all of them. Rui Hachamara might be the best defensive performance I've ever seen from him. The biggest, there's a lot of different areas where we can talk about the defense. But to me, and this jumped out at me, and I tweeted about this multiple times during the game, beginning, I don't know, maybe six minutes left in the first half.

Starting point is 00:13:37 Shea Gilders-Alexander had not taken a free-throw attempt. Then third quarter ends. Shea has not taken a free-throw attempt. game ends Shea Gildjus Alexander zero free throw attempts. I have no idea how many times that's happened this season

Starting point is 00:13:56 over the last couple of years, but I can promise you not many. And yes, Shea still had 26, and yes, he was still pretty efficient from the field in getting those 26 points because he's Shea Gilder's Alexander. 26 points, 12 of 23 from the field,

Starting point is 00:14:13 two of five from behind the arc, just one turnover. There's a reason that he is, I think, considered the front runner for MVP. But he didn't get the cheap points. And not getting those cheap points is a big, big reason that OKC was never really able to chip away at this lead. Like the Lakers did a great job.

Starting point is 00:14:37 I think A of making Shea take hard shots. It did not feel like he was just owning them. Because I think if he was just owning them, that's where he ends up at the line more. And I would not be surprised at all if that was one of the big things that JJ and the staff told the Lakers, make him work, do not foul him. And you're eliminating, I mean, in this particular game, they won by so much it doesn't matter. But you are eliminating seven to ten points for Shea just by not sending him to the line. So there's a bunch of different things we can talk.

Starting point is 00:15:13 You ever just nine free throws a game. Right. And he's a really good free throw shooter. So just that in and of itself, I think, encapsulates just how good the defense was for the Lakers today. Yeah. And look, I mean, the Lakers, I saw a great number. I think it was from our friend Jason Tim, you know, who has a great, what network is that? Hoops tonight, part of the Colin Coward Volume Network.

Starting point is 00:15:42 Volume network. That was the part I couldn't come up with. And so he had a note, because somebody was complaining about the Lakers free throw differential. And he noted that since Luka's been on the team, that has actually evened out considerably, despite the fact the Lakers added a player who gets the line a lot in Luka. And in this game, the Lakers went to the line 17 times. But they kept New Orleans off the line.

Starting point is 00:16:03 And that was the big thing, other than Jalen Williams, who went eight times. Kept the thunder off the line, not New Orleans. Okay, C. I'm sorry, yeah. The only other, the only, I'm stuck in the past. The other person. Well, that was a big win on Friday or those pelicans, man. It's hard not to get wrapped up.

Starting point is 00:16:19 It was a long time ago, New Orleans that became the Thunder. So I'm just, again, stuck 19 years ago. Yeah. Right. And so, but Aaron Wiggins was the only other guy who got to the line. And so for the Lakers who have been more foul prone, you know, in the post-Lewkins, era, that is a big number, keeping a team like New Orleans off the line. And so that is indicative of the kind of defense that they played.

Starting point is 00:16:56 And look, in the first half, I will note, the Thunder are not a, if they have a weakness as a team, it's perimeter shooting, they actually shot the ball pretty well in the first half. The Thunder did. You know, they made some threes early to keep it close and all that kind of stuff. So, you know, yeah, the Lakers were way over the level, but the Thunder were hitting more shots than they often do. And what I just, the, this remind, the way they played in this game reminded me a lot of what the Nick game looked like, you know, a few weeks ago in New York, where that was one of the

Starting point is 00:17:25 first games. That was the game where they really frustrated towns with how they defended them. And you started to see the roots of this, this defensive level that they were at and how they could defend bigger players. And just the activity there and the quickness and the anticipation, Reddick talked about this after the game, the way they read what Oklahoma is. he was doing and responded quickly, that to me was really impressive. Yeah, you talked about Rui and the defense he played in this game.

Starting point is 00:17:52 There were a few possessions where he ended up on Chey Gildes Alexander. There was one of them where he was really disciplined, did not bite on a single upfake or pump fake, anything like that. And it led to Shea having to give up the ball to, I believe, Kendrish Williams. And it led to a miss three to beat the clock. There was another time where he forced a miss on SGA in space. And then Rui hustled to get the defensive rebound. There was a play where he got back from,

Starting point is 00:18:23 I don't remember exactly why he had been the last guy. I think he had been closest to a missed basket for the Lakers. So he was the furthest from the play. But he ran back in and deflected what was supposed to be setting up a pass for a three, deflected it out of bounds. And then on the ensuing deadball play, Vando challenged SGA into a missed jumper. Vando had a bunch of different great defensive moments. Just everybody was scrambling everywhere.

Starting point is 00:18:54 There was also, I thought, it might seem subtle to some people, but I think it's a big deal. JJ, with Rui back, tweak the rotation. Remember we had talked about before the Luca and the Banshees lineup, which we've seen at times, which is Luca Vando, DFS, Gabe, and Jordan Goodwin, which on one hand gives you a lot of defense to support Luca and some shooting, but it's not particularly dynamic. Today is not necessarily a great example of it because DFS and Gabe combined for 26 points off the bench. They both hit four threes, and honestly, when those guys have an outside shot going,

Starting point is 00:19:32 the Lakers are going to be really damn hard to beat. but JJ kept Rui out there with three of the four banshees and Luca. And then I don't remember which. Oh, it was the, Vando was the lone banshee not out there because then towards the end of the first quarter, LeBron and Vando checked in for Rui and Jordan Goodwin. So it was never a series of possessions or like a long stretch where, it was Luca having to generate that much offense by himself. Because if you've got Luke, by the way, the banshees, that's what that's what JJ calls them.

Starting point is 00:20:16 Just I'm seeing people commenting in case anybody doesn't know what I'm referencing. He calls Goodwin and Vando and DFS Vincent just like his balls to the walls defenders. He calls them the banshees. But like having one other guy out there that represents a full offensive threat. with Luca, I think makes such a big difference. And remember, that was why we were talking about maybe you need to insert Dalton connect back into the rotation just to offset that. But the other way is just tweak the rotation.

Starting point is 00:20:47 I thought that was great by JJ. Yeah, it makes a big difference too. And when, you know, now that Goodwin's particularly perimeter shot is kind of cooled off a little bit to add that defensive presence back in. But you can do that and you can feel confident in that when Rui is moving and playing and anticipating like they did. And the other thing that happens to it, because like we,

Starting point is 00:21:11 you know, you get, Luca is an interesting defender in the sense that he's got that rep of like, oh, he's a terrible, like, no,

Starting point is 00:21:19 he's not. What he is is a, he, if you can isolate Luca and hunt for him and put him on an island, okay, yeah, you got the right guy on him. You can beat him one on one.

Starting point is 00:21:30 But what he can do is he's very good in passing lanes that he sees exactly what the other team is doing. And if the structure around Luca is good, he jumps in passing lanes, he deflects a lot of passes, he's where he's supposed to be and all that kind of stuff. And so like some of it is

Starting point is 00:21:48 engagement, but some of it's the engagement of the team around him. And, you know, they showed again on Sunday the capacity to really defend well that you know, regardless of the personnel,

Starting point is 00:22:05 When they were playing at the top level of that defense, where they were the best defense were in the league for five weeks or five an a half weeks, whatever it was. Four combinations didn't matter. It didn't matter if Anthony Davis was available, hurt or a maverick. They were able to do it with anybody that they had on the floor. That's what this game reminded me of.

Starting point is 00:22:27 This was a huge game, Andy, not just for the psychology of the team and the confidence of the team, but for the Western Conference standing. We'll poke around of that and look ahead to Tuesday and Wednesday this week. Next. Locked on Lakers is brought to you by Fandul. The NBA playoffs are almost here. Yeah, they are.

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Starting point is 00:23:19 And after the game tips off, you can even combine live prop bets into a same game parlay for a chance to win even bigger. Do not miss out. Head to Fandul.com to claim your $250 in bonus bets today. You know, so many people, Andy, subscribe to the show via iTunes. That is the best way to have a show. You know, the audio delivered to you. It just shows up in your podcast feed.

Starting point is 00:23:47 Maybe you're a Spotify guy. You can do it the same way there. People are watching and nearly 700 people watching right now on YouTube, the live show on YouTube, which we certainly appreciate. But a lot of people, they say, well, how can I continue to really enjoy a victory like this? And what I always tell them is what you really want to is mail. You want to get mail. sent to you, particularly digitally.

Starting point is 00:24:10 And that's what the newsletter is. You go to locked ondaily.com. You click on Locked on Lakers and you get the Locked on Lakers newsletter delivered to you five days a week. And if you subscribe to it right now, if you go there and you subscribe to it,

Starting point is 00:24:22 you can do us a solid because they're actually running a contest. Yes. We want to win. The Lakers win things and Lakers podcasters win things. And whoever gets the most organic subscribers to the news, I'm not sure

Starting point is 00:24:34 I'm supposed to be this nakedly transparent about No, no, no, no. We want to win. We win. If people subscribe to the newsletter, Andy and I win, and we would like to win. And hopefully one of you guys wins too, but let's be clear. Yeah, that's true. You can win stuff too. Right. More importantly. See you all win something, but let's be clear. Brian and I are rooting for us. Right. Well, there are probably some details we can pass along about how you win stuff. But more importantly, what we know is that if lots of you subscribe, we win. We'll get you the other details soon. But go ahead and subscribe, LockdownDaily.com, to the Lockdown.

Starting point is 00:25:07 on Lakers newsletter. I just told you. You go to locked on daily.com. You click on Locked on Lakers. So I'll even put it in the chat. Anyway, I think, you know, we talk about going into this game. Like, it's not just a marquee matchup with this Tuesday's game, again in Oklahoma City, Wednesday, second out of a backpack, returning to Dallas for a game that they are going to be amped up for,

Starting point is 00:25:36 to say the least. And then you come back on Friday. You've got to play the Rockets again. The Lakers need to split that at best to really just avoid having to worry too much about the play-in game, because that is still the goal here. The Lakers go into this matchup. There were two games separating three through eight in the Western Conference. That is still basically the case.

Starting point is 00:26:01 Winning this game gives them a much better chance of staying out of the play-in, but also giving themselves now a chance to stay higher in the standings. Okay. Thank you. Yeah, it's a mess. Hey, there's my niece. Hi. It's a really big deal for the Lakers.

Starting point is 00:26:22 Like, because they, with this tiebreaker over basically the entire Western conference other than the thunder who they can't catch anyway so it doesn't matter. They really can't catch the rockets. They can't. They can. but it's unlikely. It's unlikely. They can't, but it's unlikely.

Starting point is 00:26:40 But it just, it makes it so teams that tie them still lose. You got to jump at least one game ahead of the Lakers in order to actually pass them. And with a stretch like this where they've got, you know, two, now one, but it began with two games against OKC, plus the Rockets, plus who's going to be a very motivated Mavericks team between their attempt to stay in the playoff race and also the whole, oh, Luca's coming back to Dallas, Anthony Davis wants to prove to everybody that this wasn't the dumbest trade in the history of sports.

Starting point is 00:27:18 Like there is a lot going on, and even the Blazers are playing better of late and have something to play for. Every single game matters so much for the Lakers right now. And to know that during this stretch, they've already banked one of those wins. And they know they've got that on the ledger psychologically makes big difference. Like it's similar to how the Dodgers this season as defending World Series champions, and they went one for one in the Otani era.

Starting point is 00:27:55 Right out of the gate, they won a World Series. So much less pressure on the Dodgers. this season because they don't have to be hearing about can the Dodgers do this can the biggest payroll ever can they actually win a world like they've done it doesn't mean there's no pressure but the pressure is lessened same thing with the lakers like they still have to stay locked in for the rest of this season but getting one of these wins out of the way is huge it really is and i just i mean this game notwithstanding and i'll say the same thing if they beat them on tuesday come back and beat him again, I think you're better off not playing the Thunder until the Western

Starting point is 00:28:34 Conference Finals. Just avoid them as they've been so good for so long this season. Just see if you can pass that. And there are teams that frighten me in the Western Conference. A healthy Clippers team, I think, is a little frightening just because of what they're capable of defensively with what that offense can do and some of the matchup questions that are created. But The other advantage to finishing in three is that I don't think there's anybody who believes that Houston isn't beatable in the first round. I don't think it would surprise people to see them beat any of the teams that they could play. But if I told you, they're pretty good. Houston's pretty good.

Starting point is 00:29:15 They're very good. But if I, but so, you know, the. So we're all these teams. Right. The seven seed could be the clippers. It could be, you know, Anthony Edwards and the timber wolves. It could be the, the warriors. Like, if you told me that, you know, the, you know, we'll say, we'll say,

Starting point is 00:29:37 Golden State beat Houston in the first round or the Clippers beat Houston in the first round. Like, that wouldn't shock anyone. Not because Houston is fools gold, but because those other teams are, you know, basically 50-win caliber teams, 50-something win caliber teams. And so I just, I think you, you. you give yourself the best chance of hosting two first playoff matchups in those first two rounds if you finish in third because there is a reasonable chance that Houston could get upset. And while, you know, I don't necessarily want to make the matchups. How do you avoid a hard matchup in the Western Conference this year?

Starting point is 00:30:18 Win as many games as you can. Get whatever advantages that you can get and roll from it there. Because look, the Lakers have shown they can beat anybody in the West this year. Denver isn't as scary as they used to be. There's no reason to try to avoid a team this year. There's no reason to try to avoid a team, and frankly, they can't. Like, everything is too tight, basically from the Lakers down to attempt any type of finagling. We talked about before, FAA, FO, before you know it, you try to get too cute, and all of a sudden,

Starting point is 00:30:49 you are fighting to stay out of the play in, or you actually land there because you were trying to have too much of your cake and eat it too. The best thing about this setup for the Lakers is, if they keep winning, they're going to be just fine is exaggeration. You still got to go through the whole playoffs, but they're going to be just fine for setting themselves up for the playoffs. That's the first step trying to put yourself in the best position possible. There's one last thing I wanted to bring up about this game that I think just is emblematic of how top to bottom, I think every Laker who stepped on the floor for like real rotation minutes played well. Like I don't think there was a single Laker tonight that got real rotation minutes before garbage time that didn't play somewhere between pretty well to exceptionally well.

Starting point is 00:31:41 Connect stepped in, hit his, you know, hit that corner three, you know, I mean. Yeah. Jordan Goodwin got only seven minutes of non-garbage time PT, but there were a enough memorable moments for Goodwin in this game that it felt like he played more. Like I remember when I looked at the boxer, I was like, oh, wow, he's only played seven minutes. Yeah. But Goodwin did a lot of good things in those seven minutes. He had multiple rebounds.

Starting point is 00:32:10 He had multiple hustle plays that you expect from Goodwin. Like he hit a shot or two. Like he did good thing, enough like good things in a short amount of time that it felt like he was on the floor longer. And you could, like, this was a really good bounce back game for Jackson Hayes, who's been pretty quiet over the last few. Hayes was very good today. The Lakers did a better job or just found different ways to get him back to being that

Starting point is 00:32:39 lob threat that he had been before. And we've talked about when Hayes is able to maintain that vertical spacing, it opens up a lot for this team. We talked about Rui's defense. It was a good game for Rui on both sides of the ball. We really didn't even get a ton into Austin and LeBron, but they were both very good. Everybody was good.

Starting point is 00:33:00 You don't beat the Thunder by 27 without everybody being good. It just was this was one of the most complete games this team has had all season. It just, it was, it was really, really fun to watch. It was. So Locked on Lakers on YouTube, Andy is where you can go to hang out with 34,000. very happy the Lakers fans this afternoon. Of course, again, sign up. Go to LockdownDaily.com and sign up for the newsletter.

Starting point is 00:33:29 And we will be back all week. Big week of games for the Lakers. And we'll see everyone tomorrow.

Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - Luka Dončić Scores 30, Lakers DEFENSE DOMINATES THUNDER in 126-99 Win!

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