Lakers fall to Thunder in Game 2, trailing 0-2 in playoff series

OKLAHOMA CITY — The Lakers, one again, were so close. 

But they kept getting in their own way in their 125-107 Game 2 loss to the Thunder at Paycom Center.

The Lakers had too many self-inflicted wounds, like their 21 turnovers for 26 OKC points.

Or the 17 second-chance points they allowed the Thunder to score, wasting the strong moments of halfcourt defense they had.

“We played well in spurts,” LeBron James said. “We had some really good minutes, obviously through three [quarters]. They were able to take a five-point lead in the third quarter and they made a run. Obviously, they kept scoring and they’re really good at exploiting matchups and things of that nature. But we had a good game plan. We tried to execute it as close to 48 minutes as possible, but it just didn’t get done.”

Even with Austin Reaves bouncing back from a purtid Game 1 performance with a playoff career-high 31 points to go with 6 assists, Game 2 was defined by the Lakers’ mistakes. 

And the Thunder capitalized off them. 

“They do a good job of capitalizing off turnovers,” Luke Kennard said. “Obviously, that’s going to be a big thing for us. We knew that going into it, their physicality. We gotta stay poised, under control when they go on those runs. I think we’ve done a pretty good job overall, but it’s gonna take a full, full 48 minutes.”

James had 23 points and 6 assists.

Rui Hachimura (16 points) and Kennard (10 points) combined for 26 points, but the Lakers wasted a strong shooting night (50% from the field, 37.9% on 3s).

Chet Holmgren led the Thunder with 22 points, 9 rebounds, 4 steals, 3 assists and 2 blocked shots.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had 22 points. Ajay Mitchell recorded 20 points and 6 assists, while Jared McCain had 18 points off the bench.

What it means

The Lakers are now trailing 2-0 in the best-of-seven second round series. 

Under the 2-2-1-1-1 home/away pattern, the team with homecourt advantage has a 221-19 all-time record in playoff series after taking a 2-0 lead since the NBA moved to a 16-team playoff in 1984. 

Turning point 

When Gilgeous-Alexander picked up his fourth personal and a Flagrant Foul penalty one foul at the 10:34 mark of the third quarter.

Reaves made a pair of flagrant free throws, and a technical free throw after Alex Caruso was assessed a technical from the bench, to put the Lakers up 66-61 as Gilgeous-Alexander subbed out and went to the bench for the remainder of the quarter.

Usually, this would be a positive moment for an opponent when the reigning MVP has to watch nearly an entire quarter from the bench.  

That wasn’t the case for the Lakers, who were outscored 32-14 in the final 10 ½ minutes of the third.

Jared McCain (8 points), Holmgren (8) and Mitchell (7) combined for 23 points in the third, with the trio outscoring the Lakers, who had 22 points in the third.

“I talked about it a little bit [on Wednesday], them being plus-nine in the non-SGA minutes and then in the second half, we just got blitzed, 32-14, seven turnovers,” coach JJ Redick said. “They shot 14 free throws during that stretch. So we got to look at lineups, look at everything, try to figure out how we can be better in those minutes.”

MVP: Ajay Mitchell

The second-year guard continues his breakout season with another strong playoff performance.

He was the biggest reason why the Thunder won the non-Gilgeous-Alexander minutes in the second, scoring 11 points of his scoring total in the quarter.

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Stat of the game: 12

That’s how many points the Thunder outscored the Lakers by when Gilgeous-Alexander wasn’t on the floor before Redick subbed out his main rotation players with 2:14 left, with his team down 120-103.

The Lakers also struggled in the non-Gilgeous-Alexander minutes in Game 1, being outscored on Tuesday when Gilgeous-Alexander was on the bench.

Up next

Game 3 of Lakers-Thunder will tip off at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday at Crypto.com Arena.