LOS ANGELES >> Once the ball sank into the basket, Lakers forward Nick Young pumped his fists, slapped his chest and let out a roar. He walked over to bump veteran guard Jose Calderon. After once feuding seven months ago over an accidentally leaked video, Young listened to Lakers second-year guard D’Angelo Russell by performing the “Ice in my Veins” gesture.

Moments later, Young’s 3-pointer officially marked the game-winner to secure the Lakers’ 111-109 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday at Staples Center. For an organization and fanbase eager to see growth in their young team, the Lakers (8-7) climbed above the .500 mark for the fourth time this season by snapping an eight-game losing streak to the Thunder (8-7).

Despite Russell staying sidelined again with persisting soreness in his left knee, Young made the Lakers temporarily forget about Russell’s health. Young scored 17 points on 6-of-12 shooting. He made his first career go-ahead field goal in the final five seconds of the fourth quarter and overtime after missing his six previous attempts. And he made his first game winner since nailing a 30-foot 3-pointer with 7.4 seconds left in overtime on Dec. 12, 2014 in San Antonio, a play that prompted Young to call himself “IDM” for “I Don’t Miss.”

It seemed like the perfect feel-good story for Young, who already experienced a resurgence under Lakers coach Luke Walton with an elevated role, elevated defense and elevated shooting. But Young’s latest performance featured a twist that only he could seemingly do.

“The play was designed for….somebody else,” Young said, chuckling. “I think they should have given me a steal for that!”

The box score will not show Young made a steal on that play. The actual game tape will show he did.

With the Lakers trailing 109-108 with 11 seconds left, veteran guard Lou Williams zipped the ball Lakers rookie forward Brandon Ingram on the far wing. After performing a pump fake, Ingram drove toward the basket only to see Oklahoma City’s Victor Oladipo rotate on help defense.

Ingram threw the ball up the top of the key to Williams. But Young sprinted over in front of Williams. Young caught the ball. Then he curled behind the perimeter and pulled up for the shot. The ball went into the hoop to give the Lakers a 111-109 lead with 5.1 seconds left. The Lakers then secured the win after Westbrook’s final 3-pointer hit the front of the rim, blemishing a performance that entailed half of his 34 points in the fourth quarter, a 13-of-30 clip, 13 assists and eight rebounds.

Afterwards, Young shook his head in amazement. He followed through on Lakers forward Tarik Black telling him he should “get his hand in the cookie jar.” Young also fulfilled his lifelong dream of making a game-winning shot in a Lakers uniform after the former Cleveland of Reseda High standout watched former Kobe Bryant, Derek Fisher and Robert Horry doing the same thing.

“I got mine. But mine’s kind of unique,” Young said, grinning. “I stole it from my own teammate. It wasn’t designed for me. But it should go down [in history].”

Afterwards, William shook his head showing a healthy mix of annoyance and amusement. He sounded annoyed about Young’s potentially selfish play. Williams sounded amused over Young’s unintentional comedy.

“He can say it because he made the shot,” Williams said, laughing. “If he missed the shot, the narrative would have been different.”

Afterwards, Walton shook his head as he looked at the box score. He called “absolute BS” Young was not credited with a steal. Walton also told Young, “If you’re going to steal the pass, you better make the shot.” Williams told Young that “he was lucky he made it.” And because Young did, well, apparently all was forgiven.

“That’s one of the reasons why we like Nick on the court at the end of the game,” Walton said. “He’s not afraid of the moment. He loves the moment. He made a big shot for us.”

And if not?

Well, Young would not have experienced feeling Kobe Bryant’s wrath or living in Byron Scott’s permanent doghouse as he would have if he pulled the stunt last season. But Lakers forward Larry Nance Jr. predicted Young “would’ve been an Internet sensation.” Williams sensed, “That would probably be a problem for Coach.”

Instead, Young apologized to the team afterwards only for everyone to get a good chuckle out of the absurdity of it all.

“Everybody knows Nick, man,” said Williams, who had 13 points. “He’s half serious always never, if that makes sense. He’s never serious. He made a big shot.”

That big shot overshadowed a potentially big concern for the Lakers.

Russell sat for the second game in five games because of persisting soreness in his right knee. The Lakers also ruled Russell out both to play in and travel for Wednesday’s game against the Golden State Warriors in Oakland.

Walton said the Lakers’ training staff has only described Russell’s knee as “sore,” and did not indicate he has tendinitis. Walton expressed uncertainty as to whether Russell will complete any rehab work Wednesday while the team is in Oakland. And the Lakers declined to say if Russell needs any more medical exams.

“The more time he misses, the more serious it seems to be,” Walton said. “But I’m not going to try to guess or make judgment on that. We’re just going to continue grinding away and going to work. Once the training staff, doctors and D’Angelo know he’s good to go, he’ll be back in there.”

After sitting on the bench, cheering his teammates and even signing autographs for fans during timeouts, Russell downplayed his injury to Southern California News Group. He maintained “it’s not that big of a deal” and that “I’m all right.”

“It’s early,” Russell said on his way out of the arena Tuesday. “So whatever it is I don’t want to make anything worse.”

After sitting out last Friday against San Antonio, Russell was held to eight points and seven assists on 3-of-11 shooting in Sunday’s loss to Chicago by mostly relying on jump shots and 3-pointers. Russell then sat out of Monday’s practice and Tuesday’s shootaround.

Russell does not have a long history with injuries. He appeared in 80 of 82 games for the Lakers as a rookie last season. Walton said that track record might make it tougher for Russell to play through pain.

“If he can’t go out and play without any restrictions, it’s not really worth having him out there right now,” Walton said. “He’s too young and his future is too bright to risk that.”

To a much lesser degree, Lakers forward Julius Randle posted three points on 1-of-5 shooting after nursing a hip pointer.

“It just took away all my explosion,” said Randle, who will receive more treatment on Wednesday. “I couldn’t really take any contact. My game is physicality, so I can’t avoid contact. I’ll figure it out.”

Those concerns did not stop the Lakers from also featuring Jordan Clarkson (18 points), Timofey Mozgov (16 points), Jose Calderon (12 points) and Ingram (11 points). Nor did it stop Walton from feeling optimistic with the Lakers’ progress. Immediately after the game, Walton informed his players the Warriors (12-2) only lost to the Spurs and the Lakers.

“And we beat them last,” Walton said. “So they’re probably the ones that are a little nervous right now as we get ready to fly up to Oakland.”

Meanwhile, the Lakers are a little excited, amused and puzzled over a victory Young helped secure in the most unorthodox way.