First and foremost, the Thunder are awesome. What they did Wednesday night to the Lakers in Oklahoma City they've basically done to every team they've played this season. It's why they've lost only once and have a point differential that is the league's best and went up considerably after the Thunder beat the Lakers 121-92.

LA was overmatched from the start, and never found their way into the game. The primary differentiator in this one was OKC's defense—fueled by their absurd athleticism and wealth of high end defenders—which was suffocating and made life impossible for Luka Dončić and Austin Reaves. As those guys struggled with inefficiency, the Thunder were able to generate whatever looks they wanted.

Seven Thundarians finished in double figures. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was dominant. So was Chet Holmgren, and Ajay Mitchell did great work.

This is a team that's simply better than the Lakers, who need someone like LeBron in order to be competitive with a team at this level. Of course, the Thunder played without Lu Dort and Jaylen Williams, the latter of whom hasn't played a minute this season.

In some ways, the Thunder did the Lakers a favor. They came out, played well, and exposed every area in which the Lakers must improve. There was nothing subtle about it.

Now we'll see how the Lakers respond.

HOSTS: Andy and Brian Kamenetzky

SEGMENT 1: The Lakers get throttled in Oklahoma City.

SEGMENT 2: Bad nights for Luka, Reaves.

SEGMENT 3: What we learned...

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