Lakers unable to overcome Luka Dončić ejection, fall to Thunder

The Lakers fell apart in the fourth after Luka Dončić was ejected and the Thunder ran away with the win.

The Lakers couldn’t complete the two-game sweep against the Thunder, losing 136-120 on Tuesday.

Los Angeles entered the fourth quarter up by one, but after a Luka Dončić ejection where he was arguing with a fan, OKC went on a 29-12 run to take control and beat the Lakers.

Luka ended the game with 23 points, three rebounds and five assists.

LeBron James had 28 points, seven rebounds and three assists. Austin Reaves pitched in with 24 points, five rebounds and five assists.

Dorian Finney-Smith shot four for eight from behind the arc and ended with 12 points, two rebounds and two assists.

Gabe Vincent had five points and Jordan Goodwin ended with six points. Jarred Vanderbilt had eight points and 12 rebounds.

The game started with playoff-intensity level shooting as both teams were draining shots back and forth. Dorian and Austin knocked down two 3-pointers each. The Lakers were having trouble defending Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who was up to six points early. At the first timeout, L.A. was down five.

Out of the break, Los Angeles turned the ball over, leading to SGA knocking down a jumper on the other end. Luguentz Dort was cooking from behind the arc for OKC with three 3-pointers. As expected, the Thunder played with much more fight than they did in their last matchup.

L.A. was shooting 77% from behind the arc and the Thunder were hitting on 60% of their threes.

After OKC had built a lead of 10, the Lakers immediately erased that deficit with their hot shooting. Jordan Goodwin drained two 3-pointers of his own, giving L.A. a boost from the bench. A three by Chet Holmgren was followed by Austin returning the favor, tying the game at the end of the first.

It was still an offensive showdown between both teams as they started the second quarter just as hot as the first. Austin drained his fourth three of the half. Jalen Williams scored seven points for the Thunder. Holmgren picked up his third foul.

The Lakers suddenly started turning the ball over, causing the Thunder to go on a 10-0 run to extend their lead to double figures.

After a few more back-and-forths, L.A. was down by six with 4:12 left in the half. Luka and Gabe Vincent drained a 3-pointer each. The Thunder were defending the Lakers well, deflecting passes and blocking shots.

Dort scored 17 points, 15 of which came from behind the arc. L.A.’s defense was worse than in their last matchup when they were more locked in. Los Angeles left players wide open and allowed easy layups.

At halftime, the purple and gold were down eight.

The second half began with a dunk by Jaxson Hayes, off an assist from Luka. L.A. challenged a foul call on Jaxson, who had fouled Holmgren from behind the arc, but it was unsuccessful, leading to two free throws from Holmgren.

The Thunder took a dip in their offensive production, missing shots they were making easily in the first half.

LeBron was heating up and scored eight points. It was a one-point game when Luka drained a near-logo 3-pointer, giving the Lakers the lead. OKC had scored just four points after eight minutes of play in the quarter.

Vando was having a stellar game, up to seven points and playing his usual great defense. He was also a rebounding machine, grabbing 10.

After faking a three, Gabe found Jaxson, who took the ball to the hoop for an emphatic dunk, which put the Lakers up six with 2:40 left in the quarter.

SGA scored eight points in the final minutes of the quarter. Jaxson added to his strong play with a putback dunk off a missed 3-pointer from Gabe.

The Lakers turned the ball over in the quarter's final seconds, but the Thunder didn’t capitalize on that. At the end of the third, L.A. was up by one.

The final frame started with a free throw party for both teams. LeBron scored five points from the charity stripe, and Aaron Wiggins drained a 3-pointer for the Thunder. Thanks to constant foul calls, the teams took turns with the lead.

Luka, who had picked up a technical foul earlier in the game and picked up his second one at the 7:40 mark and was ejected. That caused a momentum shift in favor of the Thunder who went on an 8-0 scoring run to jump ahead by eight.

L.A. had gone two minutes without a bucket until LeBron converted on a floater. The defensive breakdowns were becoming a burden for the Lakers, making the game slowly slip away. The Lakers were frustrated and nothing clicked anymore.

Key Takeaways:

The fourth turned into a mess after the ejection of Luka.

At least we know the Lakers can indeed battle the best team in the West.

Is it too late for Rui Hachimura to be in contention for Defensive Player of the Year? He’s clearly the SGA stopper and the Lakers needed him in this game.

The Lakers’ next matchup will be Luka’s return to Dallas on Wednesday at 4:30 PM PT.

You can follow Karin on Twitter at @KarinAbcarians.