NBA: Thunder pull away from Lakers, maintain perfect playoff mark

Chet Holmgren and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander each scored 22 points, leading the Oklahoma City Thunder to a 125-107 home victory over the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday and giving the Thunder a 2-0 advantage in their Western Conference second-round playoff series.

Oklahoma City remains undefeated in this year’s playoffs as the best-of-seven series shifts to Los Angeles for Game 3 on Saturday.

The Thunder managed the win despite Gilgeous-Alexander dealing with foul trouble for much of the night, limiting him to 28 minutes of play.

“I’ve got the utmost confidence in our whole team,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. “We’ve shown that during the year. We’ve trained that muscle, and we’ve got guys who are competitors. They see the challenges of the game as opportunities and they attack them.”

Early in the third quarter, Gilgeous-Alexander was called for a flagrant-1 offensive foul while being guarded by Austin Reaves. He headed to the bench with four fouls as the Lakers took a five-point lead.

Even without Gilgeous-Alexander on the floor, the Thunder went on a 25-7 run to take a 13-point lead late in the quarter.

“Guys stepped in and made confident plays up and down,” Daigneault said.

The surge included a four-point play by Jaylin Williams that put Oklahoma City ahead 85-74 with less than three minutes remaining in the third. Holmgren initiated the play by stripping the ball from Reaves underneath the basket.

Oklahoma City scored 11 points off seven Lakers turnovers in the third quarter and finished the night with 26 points off 21 turnovers.

The Lakers narrowed the gap to five early in the fourth quarter, but Holmgren scored five consecutive points to push the lead back to double digits.

About four minutes into the fourth, Gilgeous-Alexander and LeBron James went down on the same play after Gilgeous-Alexander was fouled by Reaves. James, attempting a block from behind, collided with Gilgeous-Alexander on the baseline. Both players remained in the game after briefly being down, with James clutching his right wrist and Gilgeous-Alexander writhing in pain.

Reaves, who struggled in Game 1, bounced back with a game-high 31 points on 10-of-16 shooting.

“I thought he did a good job touching the paint,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said of Reaves. “Those touch shots were there tonight, and he got some good looks from three. He played a solid game.”

James contributed 23 points for the Lakers, who shot 50% from the floor.

For the Thunder, Ajay Mitchell added 20 points, Holmgren shot 7 of 11 from the field with nine rebounds, four steals, and two blocks, while Jared McCain came off the bench to score 18 points. Oklahoma City’s reserves outscored the Lakers’ bench 48-20.

—Field Level Media/Reuters