The details were different, but the story of Saturday’s Game 3 between the Lakers and Thunder played out similarly as the previous two matchups in Oklahoma City.
The Lakers were competitive early, even having a lead going into halftime just like they did in Thursday’s Game 2.
But the results were the same as before, with the Lakers once again running out of gas against the Thunder and losing 131-108 for their worst loss of the playoff series on Saturday in Los Angeles, putting them one loss away from being eliminated from the postseason.
“They’ve kicked our ass three straight games,” coach JJ Redick said. “They’re an incredible basketball team.”
The Thunder outscored the Lakers 74-49 in the second half after the Lakers had a 59-57 lead going into halftime.
The Lakers were outscored 33-20 in the third, continuing their struggles in the series with after halftime, before the game was put out of reach in the fourth.
The Thunder have outscored the Lakers by a combined 31 points in the third quarters of the series.
“If I had the answers, we would not struggle with it,” Austin Reaves said.
Even though they combined for 17 assists, LeBron James (19 points, 8 assists and 6 rebounds) and Reaves (17 points, 9 rebounds and 3 rebounds) both struggled, shooting a combined 12-for-32 from the field.
Reaves (5) and James (3) also combined for 8 of the Lakers’ 17 turnovers.
They didn’t lead the way enough during a game the Lakers got a combined 39 points from Rui Hachimura (21 points on 7-of-14 shooting) and Luke Kennard (18 points on 7-10 shooting).
The Thunder scored 30 points off the Lakers’ giveaways.
Ajay Mitchell led the Thunder with 24 points, 10 assists and 4 rebounds.
Reigning league MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander struggled with his shot (7-for-20 shooting), but finished with 23 points, 9 assists and 4 rebounds.
What it means
The Lakers are trailing the Thunder 3-0 in the best-of-seven second round series.
No team in league history has come back from down 3-0 in a playoff series.
“We’ve got to be better,” Redick said. “But I’m not giving up on the series, and we’re going to try to go win on Monday. We’re going to try to extend the series and we’re going to try to take this thing back to OKC.”
Turning point
When Isaiah Joe made back-to-back 3s to close out the third quarter, giving the Thunder a 90-79 lead going into the fourth.
The Lakers cut their deficit to five with the help of a 7-0 run.
But the pair of open 3s – one was a pull-up and – put the Thunder back up by 11.
The Thunder led by double digits for the entire fourth quarter.
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MVP: Ajay Mitchell
The second-year guard once again did the heavy lifting for the Lakers during a game Gilgeous-Alexander didn’t have his best game.
Mitchell shot 10-for-17 from the field, including 2-for-4 on 3s.
He had 18 points and 7 assists in the second half.
Stat of the game: 44
That was how many points the Thunder combined to score off turnovers and second-chance opportunities.
They also scored a combined 105 points inside of the paint (64) and off of 3-pointers (51).
Up next:
Game 4 of the Lakers-Thunder is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. PT on Monday at Crypto.com Arena
