LOS ANGELES – With the Los Angeles Lakers trailing the Oklahoma City Thunder by two points with less than 30 seconds remaining in Friday night’s game, the Lakers needed a defensive stop to have a chance at tying the score or taking the lead.

As Max Christie hunkered down waiting for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to attack, coach JJ Redick announced defensive coverage.

Christie misunderstood what Redick was signaling and thought his coach was implying that the Lakers should call a foul, and fouled Gilgeous-Alexander on a drive. The Lakers didn’t have to commit a foul. The Thunder were already in the bonus – and had been for several minutes.

Gilgeous-Alexander calmly went to the free throw line and sank both shots, extending the Thunder’s lead to four with 22.4 seconds left and essentially bringing the game to the ice.

“It was a misinterpretation on my part,” Christie said. “I knew the playing time and the score, but I didn’t know they were included in the bonus. … I take responsibility for that. … I won’t say my mistake cost us the whole game, but it was definitely probably the biggest mistake of the game.”

The Lakers’ 101-93 loss to the Thunder on Friday dropped them to 11-8 and eliminated from the NBA Cup. Los Angeles has lost three straight home games and four of five games overall, several of them against teams that are among the West’s best (the Thunder, Denver Nuggets and Phoenix Suns).

Christie’s foul may have been the loudest mistake, but it was far from the only one. On the next possession, Austin Reaves, who was recovering from an arm injury sustained late in the second quarter that forced him to briefly leave the game, threw an errant pass to Dalton Knecht, which was intercepted by Jalen Williams for a game-winning dunk became .

LeBron James, Reaves and Russell combined for 14 of the Lakers’ 17 turnovers, leading to 20 points for the Thunder, who lead the league in points off turnovers. And for a Lakers team that ranks 25th in the NBA in defense, such mistakes are too much to overcome compared to elite competition.

“There were a half-dozen to a dozen plays that just shot us in the foot before it got too late in the game,” Redick said. “We played well and hard enough to win against the best team in the West. So there’s definitely good stuff.”

James in particular had several inexcusable turnovers. He had several trips and jump passes that ended up in the hands of the Thunder. He has turned the ball over four times or more in nine straight games and five times or more in four straight games.

The last two-plus weeks have easily been one of the worst decision-making periods of his legendary career. James had 59 turnovers in 14 games in November. The last time he had that many turnovers in a month was in January 2021, and that was in 16 games.

Heavily used superstars will always be among the league leaders in revenue. Still, many of James’ recent mistakes have been questionable.

“They have great hands,” James said of the Thunder. “Very aggressive at the point of attack. They have some guys who can guard the ball. They do a good job of getting their hands on loose rocks out there, 50-50 balls.”

The loss undermined what was otherwise one of the Lakers’ best defensive performances this season. After an impressive defensive performance against the San Antonio Spurs, the Lakers held the Thunder to 101 points, including 40.9 percent shooting and 32.5 percent 3-point shooting. Oklahoma City scored just 39 points in the second and third quarters. Los Angeles also allowed a season-low 38 paint points.

The Lakers did a good job of both mopping up the paint and distributing it to the shooters. The Thunder’s offensive system is difficult to stop because they have shooting and ball-handling all over the place, forcing opposing defenses to rotate and huddle. The Lakers held on as best they reasonably could.

“It was as connected as our group has been on that end of the floor since the first game of the season,” Redick said. “Just a really excellent job with a lot of the things we talked about.”

Their only defensive deficiencies were that they didn’t force many turnovers (the Thunder only had 10) and that they allowed 15 offensive rebounds as the frantic defensive style caused the Thunder to collapse in chaos.

These two OKC advantages – along with Los Angeles’ turnovers – led to the Thunder attempting 20 more shots than the Lakers, which was the difference in the game.

“I mean, if you shadow and help a lot — especially against Shai and J-Dub — they have a numbers game on offensive rebounding,” James said. “But we need to do a better job cleaning glass.”

After a 3-0 start against three playoff-caliber opponents and a six-game winning streak that put them at 10-4, the Lakers have seemingly been reminded of their place in the league hierarchy of late.

They were crushed in the second half by demoralizing losses to the Denver Nuggets and Phoenix Suns. They also lost nail-biters against the Orlando Magic and Thunder, where they performed poorly down the stretch. Their only win was a win over the San Antonio Spurs, who are over .500 but only 10th in the West. They went just 1-4 in that five-game stretch, which some in the organization believe would be indicative of where they currently stand.

Nearing the quarter mark of the season, the Lakers appear to be an above-average team that can compete with just about anyone on a nightly basis, but can’t always muster the defensive power, focus or execution necessary to beat the league’s best. They are 7-1 against teams under .500 and just 4-7 against teams over .500.

The Lakers will be further tested in early December. After their pit stop at home – the Lakers played back-to-back games in Phoenix and San Antonio before Thanksgiving – they return for a four-game trip in Utah, Minnesota, Miami and Atlanta. The Lakers have already fallen to sixth place in the West after being in the top four for much of the start of the season, and are in danger of falling into an unenviable hole if they can’t halt that decline soon.

“We have to figure it out,” James said of the upcoming road trip. “Lean on each other when you don’t have it. … It’s going to be a tough road trip for us. We have to be ready to go.”

(Top photo: Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)