The Los Angeles Lakers\u2019 highly anticipated showdown with the Oklahoma City Thunder was not going well. Then it got worse. So much worse.<\/p>\n
A game that saw the Lakers trail by 23 points after the first quarter and by 31 points at halftime ended with them holding their breath about superstar Luka Don\u010di\u0107\u2019s status after a 139-96 beatdown at the hands of the top team in the NBA standings<\/a>.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n If the game ends up being the Western Conference finals preview it was billed as, the average fan won\u2019t have much to look forward to. But that\u2019s a relatively minor problem for the Lakers right now.<\/p>\n Don\u010di\u0107 exited the game in the third quarter with an apparent leg injury. Los Angeles later announced he had sustained a left hamstring injury and would not return to the game. Lakers coach JJ Redick said Don\u010di\u0107 will undergo an MRI on Friday to determine the severity of the injury.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Redick also revealed to reporters after the game<\/a> that Don\u010di\u0107 had actually tweaked his hamstring in the first half but was cleared to play in the second half. This is also the same hamstring that caused Don\u010di\u0107 to miss four games in February.<\/p>\n Adding salt to the wound is the fact that Thursday was Don\u010di\u0107\u2019s 64th appearance of the season. If he doesn\u2019t return by the end of the regular season, he will not be eligible for any NBA postseason honors due to the league\u2019s eligibility rules. These are the rules that have already guaranteed Anthony Edwards, Cade Cunningham and LeBron James won\u2019t be awards-eligible<\/a>, drawing the ire of the NBPA<\/a>.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n The Thunder had no trouble with the Lakers<\/p>\n Even when the Lakers\u2019 MVP candidate was playing, there was no phase of the game in which the Thunder didn\u2019t obliterate L.A.<\/p>\n The game was effectively over at the end of the third quarter with OKC leading 112-67. By that point, the Thunder were shooting 53.1% from the field and 50% from deep, compared to 41.8% and 22.7% for the Lakers, respectively. The Thunder were leading the rebounding battle 48-31 and the turnover battle 15-6, which is how their number of field goals (43) wasn\u2019t far off from the Lakers\u2019 number of field-goal attempts (55).<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n \u201cThe beat the s*** out of us,\u201d Austin Reaves said afterward, according to ESPN.<\/p>\n OKC never trailed and had its lead peak at 46 points, the largest deficit of the season for the Lakers.<\/p>\n Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led all scorers with 28 points plus 7 rebounds and 7 assists, despite not playing at all in the fourth quarter. Isaiah Joe and Lu Dort also both caught fire from 3-point range at different times and finished a combined 10 of 14 from the perimeter.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n It was the kind of game in which you burn the tape, but the Don\u010di\u0107 situation means consequences will follow the Lakers into the next day. Not helping is that Reaves, the team\u2019s second-leading scorer, also left the game with an apparent back injury in the first half. He ended up returning and leading L.A. with, um, 15 points, but that\u2019s one area of the body where injuries are prone to linger.<\/p>\n