Two of the NBA’s hottest teams, each with players making a case for Most Valuable Player honors, face off Thursday when the Oklahoma City Thunder host the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Lakers (50-26) come in having won 13 of their past 14, including the past four in a row.
The Thunder (60-16) have won three straight and 15 of their past 16 to hold off the San Antonio Spurs for the top spot in the Western Conference.
Los Angeles enters off a 127-113 home win over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday.
“I think it’s a confluence of things starting with health,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said when asked what powered the recent surge. “I think it’s much easier when you have a consistent stretch of health to sort of, not even buy in but settle into roles and minutes and rotations. We never found that (previously) throughout the season.”
The time it has taken the Lakers to get to this point will keep them from pushing the Thunder or Spurs for the top two spots in the Western Conference, but they are looking like a dangerous matchup in the playoffs.
That starts with Luka Doncic’s recent play.
Doncic has scored 40 or more points in each of his last three games and five of his past seven. During that seven-game stretch, he is averaging 41.6 points, 6.7 rebounds and 7.0 assists while shooting 49.2% from the floor and 39.4% from 3-point range.
“Luka is having as good of a month as anybody that I can remember in the modern NBA, at least since I’ve been a part of it,” Redick said.
Yet Reigning MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is on a hot streak, too.
In 15 games since returning from an abdominal injury, the Thunder star is averaging 31.1 points, 6.7 assists, 4.1 rebounds and 1.8 steals while shooting 54.8% from the floor and 35% from beyond the arc.
Gilgeous-Alexander is coming off a 47-point effort in Oklahoma City’s 114-110 overtime win over the Detroit Pistons on Monday.
Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said Gilgeous-Alexander has managed to tune out outside noise, especially any criticisms of his game.
“An internal mantra we have about leadership is the leader is the one doing the right thing,” Daigneault said. “… If the leader’s the person doing the right thing, Shai’s leading in that case. He’s obviously at the center of a lot of the narratives and a lot of things, and rightfully so, he’s the MVP of the league. …
“He’s done a masterful and graceful job and has shown tremendous poise through this time and has not broken a sweat and it has not impacted who he is, how he’s played, how he’s performed.”
Doncic (33.8 points per game) and Gilgeous-Alexander (31.6) rank No. 1 and No. 2 in the league in scoring this season.
The Thunder have won the first two meetings this season, a 29-point victory in Oklahoma City on Nov. 12 and a nine-point triumph in Los Angeles on Feb. 9. Both Doncic and Gilgeous-Alexander missed the latter game.
“They’re great on both sides of the ball,” Redick said of the Thunder. “They’re going to make you work for things defensively because of how physical they are, and then they just do a great job of driving. …
“They just are really good at what they do and they’ve been doing that now for five years. They know all the nuances, they know all the tricks, they know the timing of everything. They’re just a tough team to guard.”
The Thunder and the Lakers will meet again on Tuesday in Los Angeles.
