NBA highlights on March 4: Lakers upset Thunder with right tactics

The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 116-104 at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, California, on Monday, dragging the opponents down from their position as the Western Conference leaders.

The Thunder have been one of the NBA's best teams this season at forcing turnovers by opponents and turning them into easy buckets in fast breaks. The Lakers committed as many as 20 turnovers in Monday's game. Twelve of them came from steals by the Thunder, who scored 20 points in transition.

Nonetheless, the Thunder trailed by as many as 25 points (110-85) early in the fourth quarter. The game then entered garbage time, and both sides sent in players from the end of their bench.

The Lakers secured such a big win for several reasons. First, they matched the Thunder in transition offense, getting 16 points via fast breaks. They only had eight steals and forced no more than 10 turnovers by the opponents, but the purple and gold limited the Thunder to shooting 37-for-94 from the field and led 55-38 in rebounds. As a result, many of the missed shots by the Thunder translated into early offense by the Lakers.

Second, Anthony Davis and LeBron James dominated the Thunder in the paint, where the two combined to get 32 points, enabling the purple and gold to outscore the opponents 48-36. The Lakers made 24 of their 41 shots in the paint. Davis and Jaxson Hayes also grabbed four offensive rebounds each. By contrast, the Thunder went below 50 percent in the paint. Chet Holmgren from the starting lineup couldn't stop Davis from having his own way in the paint. When Bismack Biyombo and Mike Muscala were on the court, their side looked even more vulnerable in the interior.

Third, the Lakers shut down Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (SGA), who had averaged 31.2 points per game this season, to no more than 20 points in Monday's game. He missed seven of his 12 jumpers as he was often guarded by bigger defenders like Cam Reddish or even Davis after switching. As a 1.98-meter-tall guard, SGA prefers attacking smaller defenders with his size and wingspan advantage but doesn't have absolute speed supremacy over bigger defenders who can stay in front of him and deflect his shooting.

Fourth, the Thunder shot as poorly as 15-for-39 from downtown on Monday night, worse than the Lakers, who made 16 of their 34 attempts outside the 3-point line. When the Thunder's five-out squad couldn't create superb spacing for SGA, he would face more double-teaming. That's why he only shot 13 field goal (FG) attempts, much fewer than he did per game (20.2) and only one of them was taken under the hoop.

Other games on Monday (away teams come first):

Los Angeles Clippers 106-113 Milwaukee Bucks

Coach Tyronn Lue apparently has deep love with his small-ball squad at the Clippers. Less than 24 hours ago, his team defeated the Minnesota Timberwolves 89-88 because they always kept a true center on the court. Then on Monday, the team faced the Bucks' twin tower of Brook Lopez and Bobby Portis with a centerless lineup in the fourth quarter at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

As a result, the Clippers were outscored by the Bucks 40-25 in the final period. Portis alone contributed 14 points and seven rebounds in this quarter. The Bucks went 5-for-8 in the paint and 6-for-11 behind the arc. By contrast, the Clippers missed 13 of their 20 shots in this period. Eighteen of their FG attempts were jumpers, and 14 of them were taken outside the 3-point line.

When the Clippers' small-ball squad couldn't make triples continuously, they were sitting ducks in front of the Bucks, who could dominate them ruthlessly in the paint.

Chicago Bulls 113-109 Sacramento Kings

The Bulls trailed by as many as 22 points (89-67) in the third quarter, but the Bulls rallied a 36-18 run in the fourth period to come back to win at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, California, on Monday. Coby White and DeMar DeRozan combined to score 70 points for the Bulls. DeRozan added 19 points by himself in the final quarter, in which he knocked down all seven of his shots.

The Kings went 6-for-20 from the field in the fourth period, made only one of their nine jumpers and missed all six of their triples. Their offensive spine Domantas Sabonis was fouled out at the end of this period. The team dropped to seventh in the West after this loss, only half a game above the Dallas Mavericks, who came in eighth.

Memphis Grizzlies 106-102 Brooklyn Nets

Portland Trail Blazers 114-119 Minnesota Timberwolves

Washington Wizards 115-127 Utah Jazz