LeBron James and Lakers end trip with blowout loss to Thunder

Are the Lakers a good team? LeBron James still has ‘no idea what we are’

Lakers star LeBron James, right, controls the ball against Oklahoma City guard Luguentz Dort

Staff Writer

Nov. 30, 2023 Updated 9:11 PM PT

OKLAHOMA CITY — There’s the truth and then there’s the truth the Lakers believe.

Thursday against the Thunder was the fourth and final game on a trip that lasted less than a week, but the way their bones creaked and their eyelids hung heavy, it felt like much longer.

The 133-110 loss meant the team finished .500 on the trip, the accepted measure of success for any NBA trip. But after getting smoked in Philadelphia and blitzed against the Thunder, it’d be hard to qualify this as success.

And then there’s the vibes, the immaculate ones that began in Cleveland giving way to overt frustration in Philadelphia and visible annoyance against the Thunder.

The lesson, if any, has been this: Through 20 games, the Lakers have been good enough more than half the time. But they’ve rarely, if ever, been great.

Thursday, the team pointed to its injuries as the reason why they’re tough to judge.

“I have no idea what we are,” LeBron James said. “How? We don’t have a group yet. I know what some of us individually are, but as far as a team, we don’t have our group yet. I don’t know.”

Anthony Davis had 31 points and 14 rebounds, James had 21 points, 12 rebounds and six assists, and D’Angelo Russell and Austin Reaves combined for 30 points, but the Lakers never consistently got stops against a team that played faster and harder.

“I thought we played really good ball [in] our first quarter,” James said. “But after that you could start seeing the three in four nights, the back-to-back, the bodies that we don’t have start to wear on us, especially versus a young team like OKC.”

They had moments Thursday, playing on the second night of a back-to-back.

Davis attacked Thunder rookie Chet Holmgren from the jump, Russell probed the defense and the Lakers built a double-digit lead.

But whether it was fatigue or the problems that have surfaced frequently throughout the year, the game violently flipped.

The Lakers couldn’t contain Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Cam Reddish unable to play one game after returning from a groin injury. And although coach Darvin Ham has been optimistic about Rui Hachimura (recently fitted for a protective mask) and Jarred Vanderbilt (ramping up toward his season debut), neither player was available Thursday.

Jaxson Hayes also couldn’t go because of an elbow injury he suffered Wednesday.

Short-handed and short-winded, the Lakers again got beaten on the glass and again got beaten in transition, multiple possessions ending with James failing to cross midcourt as he grabbed at oxygen.

All five Thunder starters scored at least 12, with Gilgeous-Alexander finishing with 33 points thanks, in part, to 10 free throws.

“Any back-to-back is tough. Especially when you’re playing a young, talented team like OKC that shot the ball really well tonight,” Reaves said. “They play the game the right way. They’re well coached. And they play for one another. So you’re going to have to make multiple efforts on the defensive end, scramble more than usual and it’s tough. But that’s not an excuse. We have to be better.”

Their two worst games, in terms of points allowed, occurred on this trip — allowing Philadelphia to score 138 before giving up 133 to the Thunder.

The schedule, because of the in-season tournament, turns a little in the next week, with the Lakers playing just once, on Saturday against the Rockets, before they host Phoenix in the quarterfinals Tuesday.

It has rarely looked easy for the Lakers, who left Oklahoma City excited about getting back to Los Angeles to refresh and move a step closer to getting healthier. And while they’ve been complicated to evaluate, they’re not panicking.

“I mean, we’re over .500. We’re 11-9 with literally not ever having our same group,” James said. “That’s pretty impressive.”