The Los Angeles Lakers play host to the Oklahoma City Thunder at Crypto.com Arena on Monday.

The Thunder (42-18) come into this matchup winning 10 of their last 13 games. That has them battling for the top spot in the Western Conference, sitting just 0.5 games behind the Minnesota Timberwolves. They are also tied with the Denver Nuggets, and it'll be fun to watch those three teams battle for the top seed in the west. For Oklahoma City to be in this position is a testament to this organization. They've been one of the worst teams in the NBA for close to a decade and they went full-on rebuild mode to reconstruct this franchise. They're finally seeing the backend of that rebuild because this club looks like a threat for the next decade.

The Lakers (33-29) suffered a tough loss on Saturday, narrowly losing to the Denver Nuggets. There were six ties and six lead changes in that game, with neither team leading by more than 11 points. That was actually Los Angeles because Denver took care of business by closing the game on a 16-4 run over the final five minutes. It was encouraging to see LA battle with the champs because they entered that matchup winning nine of their previous 12 games. They also had LeBron James surpass 40,000 points in that most recent defeat on Saturday, and it's hard to imagine where his point total will finish because he looks nowhere close to finished.

Los Angeles has dominated this series over recent years, winning six of their last eight games over Oklahoma City.