Player grades: Thunder show Lakers there's levels to this in 139-96 win

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OKLAHOMA CITY — Checking out with 33 seconds left in the third quarter, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander received a round of applause from the jam-packed OKC crowd. At least from the portion that are home fans. Six months later, we saw the same result in this highly anticipated matchup of MVP contenders.

The Oklahoma City Thunder absolutely destroyed the Los Angeles Lakers in a 139-96 win. Leading wire-to-wire, they led by as many as 46 points in a game that saw some unreal scores.

Didn't even take two full minutes before the Thunder set the tone. Jalen Williams ripped away the ball and sprayed it out to Lu Dort for an outside jumper. The latter joined in on the turnover fun when he punked Austin Reaves into coughing it up.

Two minutes in, the Lakers called their first of a tsunami of timeouts. The Thunder had a 9-2 lead. But the stoppage didn't matter. Nothing JJ Redick could say or draw up to make up for the talent-level difference. It was a bunch of turnovers created and outside jumpers for OKC. That's how things quickly escalated.

It took nearly five minutes before the Lakers finally made a bucket. That's how bad things were. The Thunder had a 44-21 lead after the first quarter. Dort put up 14 points with four outside makes. Yep, you read that score right. Refusing to let up, OKC slammed its foot on the gas pedal.

Looking for a spark, the Lakers went to Bronny James. That's how dire things got. Jared McCain eventully buried a tough mid-range jumper. The Thunder had a 56-24 lead with eight minutes to go in the second frame. Keep in mind, OKC has struggled on that end of the floor since the All-Star break.

After Luka Doncic turned it over by over-dribbling, Gilgeous-Alexander simply morphed into a one-man fastbreak as he got all the way to the cup for the easy transition layup. At that point, the Thunder had a 76-41 lead with over three minutes left in the frame. Just some unreal scores you never see at the high school level — much less in the NBA.

The Thunder put up 38 points in the second quarter. They had a daunting 82-51 lead at halftime. Required to play the second half out of necessity, nights like tonight would be awesome with a running clock. OKC looked like the Conquest to Los Angeles' Oliver. The third quarter was much of the same.

While both teams' offenses slowed down, the Thunder adapted. They added to their lead as the game became a snail-paced. The only downside was a couple of injuries. On one end, Doncic came up hobbling after being blitzed. He gingerly walked to the bench. The Lakers ruled him out with a hamstring injury. Uh oh. Those are two scary words you don't want to hear at this point in the season.

For the Thunder, Dort had a scary fall as he went for a baseline dunk. He landed awkwardly on one leg. While he walked off on his own, he exited to the locker room. Isaiah Joe helped them move on from that scary moment with three straight 3-pointers. They had 30 points in the third frame. That put them up at a ridiculous 112-67 lead.

Both sides cleared their benches at the start of the fourth quarter. Nikola Topic and Branden Carlson received a good ovation. It's only fitting that this turned into a glorified G League game as the OKC PA announcer was temporarily the OKC Blue's for the night. The Thunder tallied 27 points in the final frame in front of a half-filled crowd.

The Thunder shot 54% from the field and went 19-of-42 (45.2%) from 3. They shot 10-of-13 on free throws. They had 32 assists on 55 baskets. Five Thunder players scored double-digit points.

Gilgeous-Alexander led the way with 28 points and seven assists. Dort had 14 points. Williams flirted with a triple-double of 10 points, nine rebounds and eight assists. Joe dropped 20 points. Ajay Mitchell had 10 points and three rebounds.

Meanwhile, the Lakers shot 43% from the field and went 7-of-30 (23.3%) from 3. They shot 21-of-27 on free throws. They had 20 assists on 34 baskets. Five Lakers players scored double-digit points.

Doncic was limited to 12 points and seven assists. Reaves had 15 points and four rebounds. LeBron James was quiet with 13 points and six rebounds. Jaxson Hayes had 12 points. James scored 10 points off the bench.

Wow. Just pure dominance. Sometimes, you just gotta remind other teams who the top dog is. The Thunder have done that twice this regular season with the Lakers. Even though both teams have been red-hot since the All-Star break, OKC showed Los Angeles that there are levels to this whole contention thing that get masked when simply comparing records.

Been a minute since the Thunder had a one-sided game like this. You can tell they circled this one on their calendar. For several reasons, too. Anybody who had the thought of Doncic receiving a first-place MVP vote over Gilgeous-Alexander should've had that washed away by halftime. The latter has just surpassed the former over the last handful of years. Resumes and accolades speak for themselves.

Let's look at Thunder player grades:

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander: A-minus

Evading Doncic's foul-bait attempt, Gilgeous-Alexander raced down to the other side of the court. Shimmying his shoulders, he avoided Reaves' one-on-one contest to get the transition layup. The defense-to-offense sequence showed why the reigning MVP could go back-to-back with the award.

Gilgeous-Alexander finished with 28 points on 12-of-25 shooting, seven assists and seven rebounds. He shot 1-of-4 from 3 and went 3-of-3 on free throws.

Just an unreal performance. Gilgeous-Alexander had his fun toying with Los Angeles' defense. While most folks have bought stock in their recent play, the 30-point machine slapped them with a reality check. Nobody on the Lakers can make him earn his buckets — much less slow him down.

When the Lakers sold out to stop Gilgeous-Alexander inside the paint, he kicked it out to the perimeter. The designated open shooter knocked down their looks all night for the Thunder. Finally, some overdue outside shooting luck. Los Angeles' defensive strategy badly backfired. By the time they realized what had happened, they were already down double-digit points.

Gilgeous-Alexander had 21 points in the first half. He sliced through Los Angeles' defense like hot butter. When that didn't happen, he got to his favorite mid-range spots. Even with all five Lakers defenders keeping their eyes on him, no amount of contests could deter him from his pull-up looks.

In the final minute of the first half, Gilgeous-Alexander went right at Hayes. He bumped his way to a driving layup that turned into an and-one. The second half turned into light work. He barely broke a sweat as he clocked out earlier than usual in the final seconds of the third quarter.

Another publicized matchup with Doncic, another game where Gilgeous-Alexander thoroughly outplayed him. That's been a theme over the years. The Los Angeles NBA superstar might've been a household name from the start, but the latter has quietly lapped him in the all-time leaderboards over the last few years.

Jalen Williams: A

Going up for a wild layup attempt, Williams grabbed his miss. Fighting through a packed paint, the 24-year-old muscled his way for a layup as Jake LaRavia was forced to foul him. The and-one bucket had him alongside the OKC crowd celebrating as it doubled the score.

Williams finished with 10 points on 4-of-10 shooting, nine rebounds and eight assists. He shot 0-of-1 from 3 and went 2-of-2 on free throws. He also had two steals.

Nearing a triple-double, Williams joined Gilgeous-Alexander in getting up for this primetime matchup. He was the Scottie Pippen to his Michael Jordan. It was a loud 10-point performance as he bullied his way to the rim and showed off his pull-up jumper. All of his buckets came in the first half as he had a short stint.

On defense, Williams was a one-man wrecking crew. He picked off the ball a couple of times as the Thunder completely dominated that battle. It was the first time in a while that we saw OKC's defense at the peak of its powers by creating a turnover every other possession to overwhelm a confident Los Angeles.

Along with the rest of the Thunder starters, Williams clocked out early. He didn't play in the fourth quarter. Deservingly so, too. In the middle of a one-game in five-day stretch, you saw what happened when OKC took its opponent super seriously.

With each passing game, Williams looks more like his All-NBA self. He fearlessly attacks the rim. Even if it means absorbing a ton of contact. He's also returned to being OKC's most versatile defender. Taking up all five positions. This game was a textbook example of just how differently the Thunder play on both sides of the floor when he's feeling himself.

Lu Dort: A-plus

Going with the side-dribble, Dort created enough space away from Reaves to let it fly. Feeling himself, the 26-year-old rainbowed in another outside jumper to put the Thunder ahead by the unique score of 25-9. One of his best quarters of the season caught the Lakers by surprise.

Dort finished with 14 points on 5-of-8 shooting and one assist. He shot 4-of-6 from 3. He also had two steals.

Making the Lakers pay for their late rotations, Dort scored all of his points in the first quarter. He made all four of his outside attempts in the frame as Los Angeles saw its strategy to let him shoot completely derail. Even after a couple of timeouts, nothing could stop his hot-scorch start as OKC put up 44 points.

On the other side, Dort once again had the Doncic assignment. Those two have grown to know each other over the years. By now, the former has gone under countless screens to stick with the MVP candidate. Once again, the Thunder made him look human with another stinker.

If you want to draw up the perfect game for Dort, this is it. He finally enjoyed some good outside shooting. You can tell his confidence was sky-high. And on the other end, he made Los Angeles' NBA superstar irrelevant with some questionable shot attempts and lazy turnovers.

The only downside to this night-long celebration was Dort's injury. Going for a baseline dunk, he landed awkwardly on one of his legs. He eventually walked it off, but headed to the locker room. The third-quarter incident took away some of the zap from OKC's mojo. We'll see how much time he misses, but hopefully not a lot.

Isaiah Joe: A-plus

Completely left wide open as all five of Los Angeles' defenders hovered in the paint, Gilgeous-Alexander kicked it out to Joe for his easiest assist of the night. The 26-year-old couldn't believe how unbothered he was as he swished in another outside jumper.

Joe finished with 20 points on 7-of-9 shooting. He shot 6-of-8 from 3. He also had one steal.

I won't lie — really don't know how Joe finished as OKC's second-leading scorer. All happened within a few blinks of the eye. He had 17 points in the second half. And 14 came in the third quarter alone. He made three straight outside jumpers at one point to help the Thunder pad their lead.

The scoring barrage highlighted just how fundamentally broken Los Angeles' defense was. On a night where you left everybody open on the perimeter to sell out to Gilgeous-Alexander, you saw how going that extreme can have unintended consequences. One being leaving Joe open.

The Thunder had a chance to see all 15 players log serious minutes. Everybody minus Brooks Barnhizer had at least two points. Just one of those nights where everything went right for OKC and everything went wrong for Los Angeles. Eventually, Joe joined in on the fun.

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This article originally appeared on OKC Thunder Wire: Player grades: Thunder show Lakers there's levels to this in 139-96 win

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