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Lakers go wire-to-wire with LeBron James leading the way

On to the next one.

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Los Angeles Lakers v Oklahoma City Thunder Photo by Zach Beeker/NBAE via Getty Images

Are the Los Angeles Lakers ever going to play a competitive game again? After back-to-back blowout wins over the Houston Rockets earlier this week, the Lakers handily beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 128-99 on Wednesday.

With Al Horford resting on Wednesday, the Thunder rolled out a super small starting lineup against the Lakers, with their power forward and center both standing at 6-foot-8. As one could have guessed, that didn’t go well for the Thunder.

Although the Lakers only outscored the Thunder by eight points in the paint, they shot 49.5% from the field and 45.9% from behind the arc. They were getting whatever they wanted on offense, and the Thunder didn’t make them work too hard on the defensive end.

LeBron James led the Lakers for the way Lakers, tallying 26 points, 7 assists and 6 rebounds in 27:29. James is over a decade older than most of the players that the Thunder played on Wednesday, but you couldn’t tell by the way he played.

A good amount of James’ points came from behind the arc, where he made five of his eight attempts. Only Alex Caruso shot a higher percentage from 3-point range than James. Caruso is shooting 52.3% from behind the arc this season. If he continues to knock down his 3-point attempts with consistency, it won’t matter who the Nets trade for.

The Lakers will end yet another road trip without taking a loss, which means they’re still undefeated away from Staples Center this season. They’ll try to extend their winning streak to five games when they face off agains the New Orleans Pelicans in Los Angeles on Friday.

For more Lakers talk, subscribe to the Silver Screen and Roll podcast feed on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher or Google Podcasts. You can follow this author on Twitter at @RadRivas.

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