The Los Angeles Lakers in the same sentence with the defending NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder?
LeBron James wasn’t having it.
With NBA scoring leader Luka Doncic and reigning league MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander both sitting out due to injuries, the host Lakers and Thunder relied on their supporting casts Monday night to play a Thunder-style physical game featuring 52 combined free throws.
After Oklahoma City prevailed, 119-110, James was blunt when answering a question about what separates the Lakers (32-19) from the NBA-leading Thunder (40-13).
“You want me to compare us to them? That’s a championship team right there. We’re not,” James told reporters. “We can’t sustain energy and effort for 48 minutes, and they can. That’s why they won a championship.”
James scored 14 of his 22 points in the second half for the Lakers, whose three-game winning streak ended with another ineffective defensive performance.
The Lakers led, 99-98, with 7:24 remaining before the Thunder closed the game on a 21-11 run keyed by Jalen Williams, who scored 10 points in the game’s final five minutes.
“I think when you play the best teams — and Oklahoma City is clearly — you know, you have to have a really high level of effort and you have to have a really high level of execution,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said. “It’s got to be both, and I thought for the most part our effort was fantastic. In key stretches of the game, our execution wasn’t great.”
Williams finished with 23 points in his return from a 10-game injury absence for the Thunder, who are favored to repeat as champs.
Gilgeous-Alexander’s abdominal injury will keep him out through the All-Star Game this weekend in Inglewood, California. The Lakers haven’t determined how long they’ll be without Doncic, who missed his second straight game with a mild hamstring strain.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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