EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — Games like this force the rest of the NBA to remember what the Los Angeles Lakers can still do.

The Oklahoma City Thunder came into LA with a high-powered offense that fueled a better-than-expected season and bona fide MVP candidate Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

The Thunder, however, got fully stymied by the Lakers, 112-105, who reminded the league they could tuck away quality victories with a perfect assortment of clamp-down defense and share-the-ball offense Monday at Crypto.com Arena.

How impressive was the Lakers’ defense? Only three players scored in double figures for Oklahoma City, which came into the night with the league’s third-highest scoring offense. Rising star Chet Holmgren managed only nine points and was thoroughly outplayed by Lakers center Anthony Davis, who had 27 points and 15 rebounds.

It was a thorough about-face from a three-game defensive skid where the Lakers went 1-2 and surrendered an average of 130 points.

As for the Lakers’ offense, an impressive 31 team assists was all you needed to know after coach Darvin Ham juggled the starting lineup to put D’Angelo Russell and Austin Reaves in the backcourt, with Davis, LeBron James and Taurean Prince in the frontcourt.

It obviously worked.

“Just wanted to put as much skill and shot-making around our two captains,” Ham said. “For the foreseeable future that’s gonna be our lineup, barring any injury.”

James scored 25 points while Reaves added 15 and seven assists as the Lakers (20-21) hit the halfway point of the regular season.

Oklahoma City (27-12) made a late-game push and trailed by only six points when James drew in the Thunder defense with a drive and dropped off a pass for Davis for an emphatic dunk.

“Five years of playing together, me and him just have that connection,” Davis told Spectrum SportsNet. “A lot of time and effort, blood and sweat that we’ve put into the game to have that connection.”

Earlier in the second half, Davis posterized Holmgren with a forceful one-handed dunk after a pass from Russell.

“I’ve never seen that, honestly, the way he dunked it,” Russell said. “I got the pass through. He did the rest. Impressive.”

Maybe the Lakers just have Oklahoma City’s number. They beat the Thunder three weeks earlier after James scored 40 points and Davis added 26.

Monday wasn’t just a timely, highlight-reel display of offense for the Lakers. Defensive-minded forward Jarred Vanderbilt had three steals in possibly his most impactful game of the season.

“Vando was amazing tonight,” Reaves said. “Only took two shots, but impacted the game way more than the stat sheet would show.”

Jalen Williams (25 points), Gilgeous-Alexander (24 points) and Luguentz Dort (11 points) were the only Oklahoma City players to score in double figures. The Thunder were kept 18 points below their season scoring average.

The Lakers will continue a home-friendly part of their schedule Wednesday against Dallas.

“We’ve got a couple more games at home [this month] and we’ve just got to take advantage of them,” Davis said.