Lakers find their legs to win third consecutive game in overtime

A lot of things can be said about the Los Angeles Lakers, but the one thing that can’t — or at least shouldn’t — be said about them is that they’re boring. After going to overtime in each of their last two games, LeBron James forced overtime with the Oklahoma City Thunder again on Monday with a clutch 3-pointer.

The fact that the Lakers forced overtime is honestly an accomplishment in and of itself. The Lakers didn’t look remotely interested in playing basketball on Monday night, as evidenced by the fact that the Thunder got out to a 20-point lead in the first quarter with an eight-man rotation that didn’t include their best player, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. From that point on, it was a crawl to the finish line for Los Angeles.

The Lakers made runs at various points in the second, third and fourth quarters, but they didn’t take their first lead of the game until late into the fourth quarter. The energy that Montrezl Harrell and Kyle Kuzma played with during that stretch was key to the Lakers’ comeback.

With what they had left of their legs, the Lakers went to overtime, where they outscored the Thunder 9-8 and won the game 114-113. The Lakers have won their last six games, including their last four at home. Prior to this stretch, hadn’t won more than two consecutive games at home.

If someone decided to re-watch this game for whatever reason, they’d see that James made two huge plays down the stretch: the aforementioned 3-pointer that sent the game to overtime and the steal that sent the Thunder into scramble mode in their final possession. However, it’s hard to say that anyone deserves the game ball. Instead, the ball should simply be popped and shipped to whatever the opposite of the Basketball Hall of Fame is.

Seriously: no more overtime games.

The Lakers will end their five-game home stand against the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday. The Lakers are 2-0 against the Grizzlies this season.

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