LOS ANGELES (AP) 鈥� Ajay Mitchell had career playoff highs of 24 points and 10 assists, and the Oklahoma City Thunder extended their unbeaten playoff run to the brink of another Western Conference finals with a 131-108 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 3 of the second round on Saturday night.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had 23 points and nine assists for the Thunder, who coolly improved to 7-0 鈥� both , and in their seven games this season against LeBron James and the Lakers. Oklahoma City is the NBA’s sixth defending champion to start 7-0 in the following postseason after three wins over short-handed Los Angeles by a combined 59 points.
Game 3 was remarkably in many respects: The Lakers again had to fight desperately just to keep up with the champs into the third quarter, only for the Thunder to run away with their usual merciless efficiency when LA finally faltered. Chet Holmgren had 18 points and nine rebounds for Oklahoma City, which outscored the Lakers 33-20 in the third quarter and wasn’t threatened at all down the stretch.
鈥淚 think (the first half) wasn’t our best half, and in the locker room we just talked about it and knew that we had to adjust and be better,鈥� said Mitchell, who continued his postseason emergence by scoring at least 14 points for the sixth consecutive game. 鈥淚 think we did a great job coming out of the half.鈥�
Game 4 is Monday night in Los Angeles.
James had 19 points, eight assists and six rebounds, while Austin Reaves had 17 points and nine assists. But both stars struggled from the field to a combined 12 for 32, and 21 points from Rui Hachimura weren’t enough to keep LA in contention with the champs.
鈥淲e had moments in the first half that were really good for us,鈥� James said. 鈥淚n the third quarter, we didn’t knock down shots, we didn’t defend or get stops and allowed them to take us out of the game.鈥�
Gilgeous-Alexander had his highest-scoring game of the series despite missing nine of his first 11 shots amid another concerted defensive effort by the Lakers on the NBA MVP, albeit with fewer double-teams than in the series’ first two games.
鈥淭hese obviously haven’t been my best performances,鈥� Gilgeous-Alexander said. 鈥淏ut I think I’ve been able to help the team win, and that’s most important. If the rest of the playoff run or the rest of my career looked like what it looked like the past few games, I’d be OK with it, because we won games.鈥�
Luke Kennard added 18 points for the Lakers, who have lost five of their last six games since midway through the first round against Houston.
鈥淭hey’re an incredible basketball team,鈥� Lakers coach JJ Redick said. 鈥淭hird straight game we’re right there after 2 1/2 quarters. We tried different lineups, different coverages. Still lost those minutes. Again, we’ve got to be better, but I’m not giving up on the series. We’re going to go try to win on Monday. We’re going to try to extend the series.鈥�
NBA scoring champion missed his 14th consecutive game for the Lakers since straining his hamstring April 2 in Oklahoma City. He is not thought to be close to returning from an injury that often requires two months of recovery.
Except for Gilgeous-Alexander, the Thunder all began Game 3 in another shooting groove. Los Angeles still surged to a small halftime lead behind 16 points from Hachimura.
Oklahoma City erased that lead with a methodical surge out of halftime, going up by 13 in the third quarter.
Third-leading scorer Jalen Williams missed his fifth straight game for the Thunder with a strained hamstring.
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