OKC Thunder bury LA Lakers to take 3-0 NBA Playoff series lead

Thunder usage an explosive 2nd fractional to bushed LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers 131-108 arsenic Ajay Mitchell scores 24.

Ajay Mitchell scored 18 of his 24 points successful the 2nd ‌‌half, arsenic the Oklahoma City Thunder dominated the last 24 minutes en way to a convincing 131-108 triumph implicit the Los Angeles Lakers successful ⁠⁠Game 3 of their Western Conference second-round ⁠⁠series.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had 23 points and 9 assists arsenic defending champions Thunder took a commanding 3-0 bid pb successful the Playoff semifinals connected Saturday.

Chet Holmgren had 18 points and 9 rebounds, Cason Wallace added 16 points disconnected the bench⁠ and Mitchell had 10 assists.

“The assurance I got from my teammates and our coaching unit has been astonishing from Day 1,” Mitchell said. “That’s the key.”

The Thunder trailed by 2 points astatine fractional clip earlier steamrolling Los Angeles 74-49 successful the 2nd half.

Rui Hachimura made 5 three-pointers and scored a team-high 21 points, ⁠⁠and LeBron James added 19 points, 8 assists and six rebounds for the Lakers. Luke Kennard had 18 points disconnected the bench, and Austin Reaves had 17 points and 9 assists for Los Angeles.

The Thunder tin implicit the expanse successful Monday’s Game 4 astatine Los Angeles. No squad successful NBA past has travel backmost to triumph a playoff bid from a 3-0 deficit.

“Absolutely,” Gilgeous-Alexander said astir wanting to implicit the sweep. “You ne'er privation to discarded an accidental to triumph a hoops game. We conscionable ‌‌need to bash the aforesaid happening we did [in] the archetypal 3 games.”

The nonaccomplishment dropped the Lakers to 0-7 this play against Oklahoma City, with an mean losing borderline of 25.1 points.

“They are beauteous bully from apical to bottom, and they don’t instrumentality their ft disconnected the gas,” James said.

LeBron James shoots against the Oklahoma City Thunder [Adam Pantozzi /Getty Images via AFP]

The Lakers erstwhile again missed NBA scoring champion Luka Doncic. Oklahoma is playing without its second-best player, Jalen Williams. Both players are sidelined with hamstring injuries.

Oklahoma City changeable 56.4 percent from the field, including 17 of 38 from three-point range. Isaiah Hartenstein had 12 points and 9 rebounds, Isaiah Joe scored 12 points connected 4 three-pointers, and Luguentz Dort had 10 points. Wallace besides made 4 three-pointers for the Thunder.

The Lakers made 46.9 percent of their attempts and were 14 of ⁠⁠30 from beyond the arc. Marcus Smart and Deandre Ayton added 10 points apiece for Los Angeles, which committed 17 turnovers⁠⁠, starring to 30 Oklahoma City points.

“The MVP [Gilgeous-Alexander] is 7 of 20 tonight, and they’ve kicked our a** 3 consecutive games,” Lakers manager JJ Redick said. “They are an unthinkable hoops team.”