The defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder continued their undefeated run in the playoffs.
Ajay Mitchell finished with 20 points, and the top-seeded Thunder defeated the No. 4 Los Angeles Lakers 125-107 in Game 2 at Paycom Center on Thursday night to take a 2-0 lead in the Western Conference semifinal series.
The Thunder have won all six of their postseason games, four without All-Star Jalen Williams (hamstring). They haven’t needed him with the way Mitchell has played in Williams’ place in the starting lineup. Mitchell has averaged 18.7 points in the last four games.
The Lakers played without Luka Dončić, who is unlikely to play in the series because of a Grade 2 left hamstring injury he suffered on April 2 that will take eight weeks to recover.
Chet Holmgren had 22 points, nine rebounds, four steals and two blocks for the Thunder, while Shai Gilgeous-Alexander added 22 points.
After a LeBron James basket got the Lakers within 99-94 with 7:36 left in the game, the Thunder went on a 12-1 run. Holmgren, Cason Wallace and Gilgeous-Alexander each hit a 3-pointer.
Austin Reaves, who led the Lakers with 31 points, went down hard with 10:34 left in the third quarter, 26 seconds after giving the Lakers a 63-61 lead. He got tied up while defending Gilgeous-Alexander, who was called for a flagrant 1 foul, his fourth foul of the game. Alex Caruso also got a technical, and Reaves stayed in, making the technical free throw and both flagrant free throws to put the Lakers up five, their biggest advantage.
But the Thunder closed out the third quarter on a 23-9 run and took a 93-80 lead into the final 12 minutes. During the spurt, Jaylin Williams had a 4-point play and Jared McCain (18 points) hit two 3s.
James had 23 points for the Lakers, who will host Game 3 on Saturday. Rui Hachimura had 16 points.
Here are our Game 2 takeaways from Oklahoma City:
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander who?
Game 2 of this series, while wrapped in part by SGA, was won by virtually everyone else. After the superstar picked up his fourth foul with 10:34 remaining in the third, Thunder coach Mark Daigneault had little choice but to sit him. He ended up doing so for the remainder of the quarter, mostly because the non-Shai minutes were just too good.
The Thunder followed with a 25-8 run, getting a little bit of everything from everyone. Ajay Mitchell did an SGA impression, ruthlessly attacking the rim and attempting six free throws in the quarter. Alex Caruso was as disruptive as ever. Jared McCain drilled a pair of 3s and swooned the crowd. What once was a back-and-forth of lead changes turned into OKC’s largest lead of the night.
And on this rare occasion, Gilgeous-Alexander played no part. — Joel Lorenzi, Thunder writer
Austin Reaves responds
For all the talk about Austin Reaves not being ready for the moment, the Lakers guard had the highest-scoring playoff game of his career. His 31 points provided the offensive punch the Lakers didn’t have in Game 1. The defense, though, wasn’t nearly as effective. For the second-straight game, the Lakers’ plan for containing Shai Gilgeous-Alexander largely worked. The cost of that strategy, though, was open shooters and offensive rebounding opportunities, and the Thunder made them pay. As the series shifts back to Los Angeles, the Lakers will need more performances like this from Reaves. In Game 2, he showed he’s capable of delivering one. — Dan Woike, Lakers writer
How it unraveled
This series was always going to be a battle over officiating: the lobbying, the acknowledgement of talent, the need to be physical, but be smart, and everything that comes with it.
The tone was set for this game after two Austin Reaves attempts trying to draw fouls in the first quarter (a wayward 3-point shot, then a tumble out of bounds during a live-ball turnover). JJ Redick called a timeout, blew up Ben Taylor for a technical foul with the Lakers facing their first double-digit deficit, and then watched his team close the quarter on a 7-0 run.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander spent much of the first three quarters in foul trouble. His third foul took place just as the Lakers erased Oklahoma City’s 11-point deficit in the second quarter, and with Gilgeous-Alexander sitting on only 3 field goals. The Lakers took a 58-57 lead into halftime.
The most critical sequence of the game happened in the third quarter, after Gilgeous-Alexander’s fourth foul came with a Flagrant Foul drawn by Reaves. Perhaps the emotional meter changed on that sequence, because Alex Caruso got a tech from the bench and Mark Daigneault blew a challenge and a timeout on Gilgeous-Alexander’s fourth foul. Gilgeous-Alexander got sent to the bench, Reaves made three free throws, and the Lakers led 66-61 with 10:34 left in the third quarter.
The fact that it was all downhill for the Lakers from there represents their biggest missed opportunity. The Thunder wound up mopping the floor with the Lakers, both without Gilgeous-Alexander on the bench and when Gilgeous-Alexander came back for the fourth quarter. Perhaps the Lakers will be more even-keeled when they return to Los Angeles, but they had their opportunity, and instead Oklahoma City will take a 2-0 lead with the Thunder rolling. — Law Murray, NBA writer
