Steven Adams’ OKC Thunder thrash LA Lakers

Marc Gasol (19) led five Grizzlies players with double figures of points scored, with Mike Conley adding 18 points and six assists.

Curry was second overall with 510,202, falling behind the Los Angeles Lakers’ guard by a large amount.

A battle for Los Angeles happens this Christmas Day as the Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Clippers square off at the Staples Center, with Lakers star guard Kobe Bryant potentially playing the last Christmas Day game of his career.

The signs were there in the first quarter. Even against Kobe’s Lakers! Leonard highlighted that run with a running two-handed dunk. In the 17 games before that, Bryant shot an abysmal 29.6% from the field while attempting nearly 8 shots from beyond the arc per game, making 21.8% of them and scoring 15.9 points a night.

To Bryant’s credit, he led a spirited second-quarter run that kept the Lakers relatively close. TNT will televise the All-Star Game in the USA for the 14th consecutive year, marking Turner Sports’ 31st year of NBA All-Star coverage.

Westbrook, Durant and Ibaka sat out the fourth quarter. Things reverted to normalcy and OKC took a double-digit lead at halftime.

It would only get worse after the break.

Rookie D’Angelo Russell had a team-high 16 points off the bench for the Lakers. Tim Duncan made a hook shot after that, but Harden hit a 3-pointer. All five starters were involved again.

The Thunder led by 10 after the first quarter, then saw the Lakers come back to take a 42-39 lead in the second quarter before the decisive run. Much of that was due to the Thunder’s domination inside, where they outscored the Lakers 38-12 on points in the paint.

“Listen, you have to be realistic about what we’re facing and where we are right now as a team and as an organization”, Bryant said after Wednesday’s loss.

“You can train a cat all you want to bark; the damn cat’s not going to bark”. “It makes no sense yelling at it”.

“No doubt, the block was good for our team”, Durant said afterward. “Finishing above the rim”. I’d still like to see him post-up more. But the starting lineup re-entered the game and it got really ugly, really quickly.

In 28 minutes, Durant finished a plus-41.

For comparison’s sake, Durant had 21 points on seven-for-nine shooting. Two of those swats came on Kobe in one possession, with the two friends sharing a laugh after the play. Kobe Bryant will play, for sure, baring some major injury, but the how long he will play and how many shots he will put up is still an unknown. I’ve always liked that about him.

“It was fun”, Durant said. “I’m not looking at my legacy from the standpoint of where I fit in with he greatest of all-time”. Maybe one player will win it one year, an other will win it the next year and then kind of go back and forth.

Kobe Bryant’s vintage performance Tuesday night showed he can dominate a game on both ends of the floor.

That’s why he’s atop the first returns of the 2016 NBA All-Star voting results.