OKLAHOMA CITY — The Lakers’ four-game road trip had a promising start but ended in disappointing fashion – a 133-110 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday night.

In many ways, the defeat, which left the Lakers with a 2-2 record on the trip, an 11-9 mark for the season and a 4-7 record away from Crypto.com Arena, could be viewed as a scheduled loss.

The Lakers were playing on the second night of a back-to-back, coming off a blowout win against the Detroit Pistons on Wednesday. It was their third game in four nights on the road.

Newspaper Ads Canyon Crest CA

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

At the same time, they didn’t have control of the game at any point after the first quarter, a period they led by as much as 14 points and finished with a 37-30 lead. And they struggled in the areas they usually do.

Led by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (game-high 33 points, seven assists), the Thunder (12-6) controlled the middle two quarters, outscoring the Lakers 78-51 in the second and third. OKC shot 53.2% from the field and committed only nine turnovers.

Coach Darvin Ham, with his team already shorthanded, took his main rotation players out with 4:01 remaining and his team trailing 123-105.

“We had some unfortunate possessions,” Ham said. “Didn’t collect some defensive rebounds. Had a couple of bad fouls. Didn’t take care of the ball. Those little things like that, they come back to bite you in the butt and they did. It was a tough road trip.

“We don’t have a ‘settle mentality’ but we have to call it like it is. To come out of this 2-2, the way we responded in Detroit, knew this was going to be tough at the end of a road trip, our guys fought to the best of their ability. Obviously, there are some things we needed to clean up. Things we could’ve done better. But we competed. We tried our best under the circumstances.”

Anthony Davis led the Lakers with 31 points and 14 rebounds, including 15 points and six rebounds in the first quarter as part of their strong start.

LeBron James finished with 21 points, 12 rebounds and six assists in 35 minutes but also had five turnovers and appeared visibly fatigued at times.

D’Angelo Russell (16 points, 10 assists) and Reaves (14 points, three assists) combined for 30 points.