LOS ANGELES — Anthony Davis stood alongside three Oklahoma City Thunder players, jockeying for position underneath the basket as Austin Reaves’ right corner 3-pointer launched into the air. Davis brushed Josh Giddey aside and, as the ball spun around the rim, leapt into Chet Holmgren, dislodging the 7-foot-1, 208-pound rookie center.

Having gained inside position, Davis swiftly brought the ball down and exploded up for an uncontested dunk as each Thunder defender watched helplessly. He hung on the rim for an extra half-second, adding emphasis to the powerful display.

The sequence, among the many that defined the Lakers’ 116-104 win over the Thunder at Crypto.com Arena on Monday, has become common when these teams match up this season. The Lakers (34-29) remain in ninth place in the West, even after their 10th win in their last 14 games. But they’re 3-1 against the Thunder (42-19) this season, with Davis and LeBron James having their way inside with the undersized Thunder core. LA’s style of play directly clashes with OKC’s small-ball, five-out system, and the Lakers have overwhelmed the Thunder with rim pressure, rebounds and free throws whenever they’ve played this season.

The Lakers wouldn’t go as far as to say they’d welcome a potential playoff series with Oklahoma City, but they made it clear they’re growing confident in their chances at making another deep playoff run given their head-to-head results against the Thunder and most of the rest of the conference, with Denver being an obvious exception.

“It’s about us, for sure,” Davis said. “Just about getting in. We’re behind the eight-ball a little bit, but we’re right there. In the event we don’t get the top six, you gotta go through the whole play-in kind of process again. We don’t really care what seed we’re in. We proved it last year. It doesn’t matter.

“Playoffs is a different animal. … For us, it’s just about getting in and tackling each opponent from there.”

Davis finished with 24 points, 12 rebounds (four offensive), one steal and three blocks on Monday. D’Angelo Russell had 26 points and five 3s, including three straight in the fourth quarter as the Lakers put the game out of reach. James added 19 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists. Reaves had 16 points, six rebounds and seven assists. Davis was able to rest the entire fourth quarter, while James sat the final six minutes. It was another impressive offensive display from the Lakers’ starting lineup, which is now 9-2 when beginning games together this season.

But the Lakers won with defense, something they haven’t done much of late. They held the Thunder to 104 points, the fewest points the Lakers have given up since allowing 103 points in a win over the LA Clippers on Jan. 7.

OKC jumped out to commanding leads of 13-2 and 20-8 early before the Lakers closed the first half on a 44-23 run to take a 52-43 lead into halftime. Over that stretch, the Thunder missed 19 of their 21 shots, allowing the Lakers to take the lead despite 12 first-half turnovers. The Thunder, who were on a back-to-back after a close win in Phoenix, shot a season-low 30.6 percent in the first half.

“I told them at halftime it was the best defensive half I’ve seen all season,” Lakers head coach Darvin Ham said. “Just the way we just fought to keep the ball in front of us, our shifts in activity behind the initial defender, help at the rim, rebounding the ball well. … Our defense, man, kudos to our guys. They really stepped up and defended really, really well.”

Ham said the Lakers spent much of their shootaround fine-tuning their defensive approach against the Thunder. In particular, they focused on showing their hands when defending MVP candidate Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in an attempt to limit his free throws. Gilgeous-Alexander entered the game averaging 8.9 attempts per game, the third-highest number in the league. He went 9-for-9 on Monday, but only three of those attempts came in the second half.

Los Angeles used Reaves as the primary defender against Gilgeous-Alexander with the starting unit. For the most part, Reaves did an impressive job of keeping Gilgeous-Alexander in front of him, forcing the Thunder’s star into tough, contested jumpers like the one below in the first quarter. Gilgeous-Alexander is capable of making those shots, but the Lakers can ultimately live with them.

“(Reaves) did a great job,” Davis said. “Moving his feet knowing that Shai likes to get to his reverse-between, kind of like a little push-off, and get to his middy or get to the lane and use his pump-fakes and draw fouls and things like that. … So he did a great job starting off on him of just making it tough for him and funneling him to do our defense and giving great contests.”

Reaves was equally effective when forced to close out on Gilgeous-Alexander after helping elsewhere, a situation Gilgeous-Alexander tends to punish. On this play, Reaves hung back, kept his feet ready and his arms above his waist before sticking his hand in Gilgeous-Alexander’s face during the shot, a tactic popularized by former Rockets and Heat wing Shane Battier.

“(Reaves) just took the challenge,” James added. “Obviously, Shai is one of the best players that we have in our league, so it’s just trying not to put him at the free throw line because that’s where he gets a lot of his points from. So I thought Austin was sensational from the start to the finish.”

James did his part by being disruptive when serving as the low man in the Lakers’ help defense, which is his most effective defensive position in a half-court setting. He blew up a lob to Holmgren and was generally in the right spots to prevent the Thunder from scoring at the rim, leveraging his anticipation and athleticism.

“Just the reads he makes,” Ham said of James’ defense. “He’s a bigger body staying low. They try to throw a lob, he comes up, MIG (most important guy), disrupt their lob. His closeouts to keep the ball in front and create indecision with certain guys was great. He’s one of the best when he’s engaged like that. His instincts and his communication is key. Gives everyone confidence.”

All the while, Davis dominated the head-to-head matchup with Holmgren, which he’s done in three of the four games. Davis is just too big, too strong and too smart for the 21-year-old rookie Thunder big man. There are times he looks like the peak version of Shaquille O’Neal against the Thunder’s small frontline.

Davis was critical to the Lakers bouncing back from Saturday’s letdown performance against the Nuggets, particularly on the glass. Against Denver, the Lakers were outrebounded 47-31. Against OKC, they outrebounded the Thunder 55-38 while controlling the paint the same way way Denver so often does against them.

“We understand time is of the essence,” Ham said. “And we’ve got to get busy in order to do what we’re trying to do. We did a great job turning the page, moving on from that loss. … Showed a lot of character with the way they responded.”

Ham said there should be an update next week on injured rotation players Jarred Vanderbilt (foot) and Gabe Vincent (knee). The Lakers could use both players’ defensive skill to ensure performances like Monday’s can be sustained against other contenders not on the second night of a back-to-back.

Still, it’s become clear the Lakers can more than hold their own against at least one of the West’s likely top four, and possibly others, too. Denver may have the Lakers’ number, but Los Angeles is 3-1 against the Thunder and 3-1 against the fourth-place LA Clippers. The Lakers are 0-2 against the first-place Timberwolves, but did not have James for one of those defeats and lost the other in controversial fashion. The Lakers face them twice at home down the stretch. That is motivation enough for a group just trying to make the playoffs by any means.

Next up is a crucial matchup with the Sacramento Kings, one of the Lakers’ most important remaining games this season. The Lakers are just 1.5 games back of the Kings (34-26) in the standings, though technically three back in the loss column. But with two matchups, one home and one road, against them over the next week, the Lakers have an opportunity to dictate their destiny.

“That’s a very important game,” Davis said. “We play them twice within the next week or so. That’s gonna be a big game and then the one next week is gonna be a big game. We gotta come in and take care of business.”

(Top photo: Gary A. Vasquez / USA Today)