The Oklahoma City Thunder survived a nail-biting thriller to defeat the Los Angeles Lakers 101-93 in their third group stage game of the Emirates NBA Cup.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander drilled a 27-foot pull-up three-pointer over Max Christie to put the Thunder ahead by four points with a minute and a half left. Christie converted a turnaround shot in the final minute, but fouled Gilgeous-Alexander on a drive to the basket – last season’s MVP runner-up made both free throws to restore the four-point lead, and Jalen Williams stole and banged in the ensuing inbounds- Pass to seal the victory.

Gilgeous-Alexander scored a game-high 36 points on 28 shots, including three 3-pointers, and added nine assists, six rebounds, two steals and a block. His plus-13 also led all players.

Jalen Williams contributed 19 points, four rebounds, two assists and two steals. Isaiah Hartenstein collected 11 points, 17 rebounds, four assists, one steal and one block. Luguentz Dort made four of his five 3-point attempts.

Dalton Knecht led the Lakers’ scorers with 20 points and shot 6 of 11 from long range. He also grabbed six rebounds and dished out four assists. D’Angelo Russell had 17 points, nine rebounds, three assists and two steals. Anthony Davis recorded 15 points, 12 rebounds, seven assists and four blocks.

The Thunder started Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams, Hartenstein, Dort and Cason Wallace – their ninth unique starting five in 19 games.

Los Angeles started with Austin Reaves, Knecht, Rui Hachimura, LeBron James and Davis.

Wallace and Hartenstein recorded early steals on consecutive possessions, leading to a wide-open Dort triple in transition and a Gilgeous Alexander breakaway layup. Oklahoma City went on a 13-2 run after Reaves hit a quality 3-pointer to set up the night’s scoring.

Davis nailed a running floater, scored a putback layup and blocked Gilgeous-Alexander at the rim within a minute to cut the Thunder’s lead to five points midway through the first frame.

Hartenstein parried a dunk attempt from Knecht two minutes before the end of the first quarter, but fell hard on his back and struggled to get back up. He left the game during the next break in play. Oklahoma City led 34-26 after 12 minutes.

Eight minutes into the second quarter, Reaves suffered a similar fall, falling to his lower back after Gilgeous-Alexander and Hartenstein attempted a layup. He shot and made both earned free throws after the Lakers’ timeout, but checked out for D’Angelo Russell and headed to the locker room at the next whistle.

Gilgeous-Alexander hit a 3-pointer with 26 seconds left before halftime to make it 48-48 and assisted on a Kenrich Williams three-pointer at the buzzer to give the Thunder a three-point halftime lead. Oklahoma City scored six points in the final minute of the second quarter after scoring just 13 points in the first 11 minutes.

The Lakers attempted 10 more free throws in the first half than the Thunder, a statistical category that coach Mark Daigneault explicitly addressed before the game.

“When you game plan for (the Lakers), the free throw line is the battleground,” Daigneault said. “And that starts because of the difference they can make in this part of the game. I mean, last season they shot 507 more free throws than their opponents, and the season before that they shot 476. They’re plus-97.” This year, those are just huge numbers, and the free throw line is the most efficient shot you can get on the place can execute.

“That’s an important key to the game plan tonight: We will do everything we can to neutralize this battlefield.”

Daigneault yelled at two referees after Jalen Williams missed a layup attempt in the third quarter.

The Thunder played for three and a half minutes and scored zero points after a Hartenstein putback layup with about four minutes left in the third quarter. Gilgeous-Alexander made a pull-up 3-pointer and Aaron Wiggins converted a contested turnaround jump shot from midrange to end the quarter, giving Oklahoma City a 71-69 lead with 12 minutes left.

Russell hit two straight 3-pointers from the left wing – raising his point total to a team-high 17 – to give the Lakers a one-point lead, but Dort and Ajay Mitchell responded with back-to-back 3-pointers in front of the Thunder’s bench to force a point Los Angeles timeout four minutes into the final frame.

The Thunder will face the No. 2 seed Houston Rockets this Sunday, December 1st at 6pm CST.

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