Everything was set up for an easy victory for the OKC Thunder who arrived at Chesapeake to face a Lakers squad without LeBron James, Anthony Davis and Danny Green in the lineup. Moreover, the Lakers were playing on the second night of a back-to-back.
Cue all the adages of ‘you can’t underestimate anyone” and ‘playing down to the competition” and the resulting effect was the Lakers supplementary talents aided by Rajon Rondo and Kyle Kuzma jumped on the Thunder to take a 41-19 point first quarter lead and never looked back
Even crazier was this was a four-point match halfway through the first frame.