Former Thunder guard Dennis Schröder scores game-high 26 points, leads Lakers past OKC

Rui Hachimura denied Jalen Williams at the rim, which spurred a Lakers fastbreak. The ball found its way back to a streaking Hachimura, who punched in a dunk.

It wasn’t the knockout blow in the Lakers’ 123-117 win against the Thunder on Wednesday night in Oklahoma City, but Hachimura’s highlight was one of a series of jabs that sent the Thunder stumbling.

The Lakers, without LeBron James and Anthony Davis, were desperate for a win, and it showed. LA out-maneuvered OKC down the stretch.

“Very winnable game on our part,” Thunder guard Josh Giddey said. “Just clean up a few things down the stretch and I think we can take care of that one.”

It was a pivotal result in the Western Conference play-in race.

The Thunder (28-34), losers of five straight and struggling to find its footing without Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, is two games back of the 10th and final play-in spot. The Lakers (30-33) are only a half-game out of 10th.

More:OKC Thunder forward Kenrich Williams out for season with wrist injury

OKC, playing from behind throughout the fourth quarter, cut LA’s lead to four points with three and a half minutes left, but Troy Brown Jr. responded with a clutch jumper and former Sooner Austin Reaves swerved through the defense for a slick reverse layup.

Brown had a season-high 19 points, and Reaves equaled him with 19 points on 5-of-5 shooting.

Isaiah Joe revived the Thunder when he buried a corner 3-pointer to cut LA’s lead to five points with two minutes left, but Thunder coach Mark Daigneault was irate about what he thought was a blown call that would’ve led to a potential four-point play.

Former Thunder guard Dennis Schroder got off to a slow start, but he was magnificent in crunch time for the Lakers. Schroder, fighting off the pain of a rolled ankle in the first quarter, scored a game-high 26 points.

At the end of the third quarter, Schroder had back-to-back plays that were spot-on impressions of his old Thunder teammates. He caught the Thunder on a rip move, a la Chris Paul, and then Schroder drew an illegal screen, which was very Lu Dort of him.

Schroder and Dort both fouled out late in the fourth quarter.

The Lakers attempted 39 free throws to the Thunder’s 24, which was a point of contention for Daigneault.

“All we’re asking for is fairness and consistency,” Daigneault said. “I do feel like I end up answering a lot of questions from you guys about free throw discrepancies and how the game’s called, and I’m not choosing your questions. I think there’s probably something to that, which is disappointing.

“Because again, all we’re asking for is fairness and consistency.”

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Josh Giddey, Jalen Williams punish Lakers

Josh Giddey had one heck of a bounceback game.

“I thought he played with great force,” Daigneault said. “He was on the gas.”

Any frustration Giddey had from his poor performance Tuesday night against the Kings was taken out 24 hours against the Lakers.

The 6-foot-8 Giddey punished smaller Lakers guards Dennis Schroder and Malik Beasley.

“It can’t be a sometime thing,” Giddey said of being aggressive. “It has to be every night.”

Giddey sliced through LA’s defense with 3:30 left to score a floater which cut the Lakers’ lead to four points.

Giddey finished with 22 points, 11 assists and nine rebounds. He shot 10-of-17 from the floor.

“Kind of put the last game in the past,” Giddey said. “Those types of games are gonna happen throughout a career, especially as a young player. It’s never gonna be a steady improvement game-by-game. There’s always going to be ebbs and flows.”

Alongside Giddey, backcourt mate Jalen Williams shot 9-of-17 en route to a team-high 24 points.

The Thunder certainly missed Gilgeous-Alexander, but Giddey and Santa Clara Williams replicated SGA’s relentless ways of attacking the rim.

The Thunder outscored the Lakers 60-34 in the paint. The Lakers overcame that by shooting 16-of-35 (46%) from 3-point range.

OKC shot 7-of-12 from 3-point range in the first quarter. After that? A paltry 4-of-28.

More:Harrison Barnes scores 29 points as Kings hand Thunder fourth straight loss

Lindy Waters III reacts to signing NBA contract

Lindy Waters III has a tattoo that reminds him to “press on.”

He got it between graduating from OSU and playing small-time pro ball with the Enid Outlaws.

“It’s something that stuck with me,” Waters said.

Waters reflected on those words Tuesday when asked about his promotion from a two-way contract to a standard NBA contract with the Thunder.

“Thankful for a lot of people along the way that helped me to get to where I am,” Waters said. “Very thankful for the organization for giving me a shot, letting me come in and work out and showing they care. But yeah, it’s just been a wild ride.”

Waters, who grew up in Norman and played four years at OSU, joined the Oklahoma City Blue last season as an end-of-the-bench guy. A steady hand the Blue could lean on to help some of the Thunder’s prized prospects develop.

It turns out he was overqualified for that role. In 50 games with the Thunder, Waters is shooting 37% from 3-point range.

“You’re kinda like, maybe there’s more here,” Daigneault said. “And there is. We think he’s a good player. He’s got a real chance.”

Waters and forward Eugene Omoruyi were the Thunder’s two-way contract players to start the season. Omoruyi got the first crack at an NBA contract, but he was waived two weeks later.

“Eugene did everything we asked him to do,” Daigneault said. “He was a soldier from a program standpoint.”

Now it’s Waters’ turn. As for how long, who knows, but Waters is relishing the chance.

“Staying here in Oklahoma,” Waters said, “playing here my whole life, can’t describe it any other way than a blessing.”

It didn’t take long for Waters to get warm on Wednesday. He checked in late in the first quarter and promptly drilled a 3-pointer.

In the second quarter, Waters volleyball spiked a Wenyen Gabriel attempt.

Waters earned a spot in the Thunder’s closing lineup.

More:Harrison Barnes scores 29 points as Kings hand Thunder fourth straight loss

Thunder, Lakers missing stars

LeBron James and Anthony Davis were out for the Lakers and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was for the Thunder.

The last time these two teams met, all three stars played in a nationally televised game that the basketball world tuned into to watch James pass Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the NBA’s all-time leading scorer.

There was a tad less fanfare Wednesday in Oklahoma City — although Lakers fans still showed up in droves. They just didn’t get to see LA’s brightest stars.

James is expected to miss a significant chunk of time with right foot soreness and Davis was ruled out Wednesday with a right foot stress injury.

James’ injury sapped the Lakers’ momentum toward a playoff/play-in bid. But missing James and Davis? Credit the Lakers for overcoming that in OKC.

Gilgeous-Alexander, by the way, is still stuck in COVID protocols and Kenrich Williams was out with a left wrist sprain.

It’s a new injury for Williams, who was visibly bothered by the wrist in the Thunder’s loss to the Kings. Williams wore two different wraps on his left wrist.

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Thunder tip-ins

- The Thunder really doesn’t have the personnel to go “big” by traditional standards, but OKC went its version of big Wednesday night with Jaylin Williams at center and Jeremiah Robinson-Earl at power forward.

- It was the first time this season that Jaylin Williams and Robinson-Earl started together. Daigneault’s reasoning? Having one defend Lakers center Mo Bamba while the other battled to keep Jarred Vanderbilt off the glass. Vanderbilt, a menace on the boards, didn’t have an offensive rebound.

- The Lakers left Isaiah Joe open at the top of the arc in the first quarter, and Lakers forward Wenyen Gabriel yelled at his defense to rotate. It was too late. Joe drained the 3-pointer, his second of the game.

- Joe has made a 3-pointer in 19 straight games.

- How’s this for weird? In the Thunder’s last four games: 124-115 loss, 124-115 loss, 123-117 loss, 123-117 loss. Four games with two identical scores.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Dennis Schröder, Lakers beat Thunder, hand OKC fifth straight loss