Oklahoma City Thunder stars Chet Holmgren and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander each put up 22 points Thursday night, leading their team to a commanding 125-107 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers at home and securing a 2-0 lead in their Western Conference second-round playoff matchup.
The Thunder continue their flawless postseason run as the best-of-seven series shifts to Los Angeles for Game 3 this Saturday.
Oklahoma City managed to dominate despite Gilgeous-Alexander struggling with foul issues throughout the contest, which restricted his playing time to just 28 minutes.
“I’ve got the utmost confidence in our whole team,” Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault commented regarding playing without Gilgeous-Alexander. “We’ve shown that during the year. … We’ve tried to train that muscle and we’ve got guys that are competitors. They see the challenges of the game as opportunities and they attack them.”
During the opening moments of the third quarter, Gilgeous-Alexander received a flagrant-1 offensive foul call while Austin Reaves was defending him.
With four fouls accumulated, Gilgeous-Alexander was forced to the sideline as Los Angeles gained a five-point advantage.
Nevertheless, even without their star player on the court, Oklahoma City responded with an impressive 25-7 scoring streak that gave them a 13-point cushion late in the period.
“Guys stepped in and made confident plays up and down,” Daigneault noted.
The momentum shift featured Jaylin Williams converting a four-point play that pushed Oklahoma City ahead 85-74 with under three minutes remaining in the third quarter. Holmgren initiated the sequence by stealing the ball from Reaves near the basket on the defensive end.
Oklahoma City capitalized on Los Angeles’ seven third-quarter mistakes for 11 points and finished the game with 26 points generated from the Lakers’ 21 total turnovers.
Los Angeles managed to narrow the gap to five points early in the final quarter, but Holmgren responded with five straight points to restore the double-digit margin.
Approximately four minutes into the fourth quarter, both Gilgeous-Alexander and Lakers superstar LeBron James fell during the same sequence after Reaves fouled Gilgeous-Alexander.
James, attempting to block the shot from behind, tried to jump over Gilgeous-Alexander along the baseline but couldn’t prevent contact with the Thunder player.
Both players went down, with James clutching his right wrist after hitting the floor while Gilgeous-Alexander briefly showed signs of discomfort.
Neither Gilgeous-Alexander nor James left the contest following the incident.
Reaves, who managed only 3 of 16 shots in the series opener, performed significantly better Thursday evening, leading all scorers with 31 points on 10-of-16 shooting.
“I thought he (Reaves) did a good job touching the paint,” Lakers head coach JJ Redick observed. “Those touch shots were there tonight, got some good looks from three. He played a solid game.”
James contributed 23 points for Los Angeles, which shot 50% from the field as a team.
Oklahoma City’s Ajay Mitchell provided 20 points in support. Holmgren connected on 7 of 11 field goal attempts while recording nine rebounds, four steals and two blocked shots.
Jared McCain delivered 18 points coming off the bench for the Thunder, whose substitute players outproduced the Lakers’ reserves 48-20.
