Despite an off night for SGA, the Thunder cruised to an easy victory over the Lakers thanks to a monster night by Chet Holmgren.
Despite reigning MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexaner having his worst offensive game of the season, the Oklahoma City Thunder handily won Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals against the Los Angeles Lakers by 18 points. Thanks to his teammate, Chet Holmgren, and a suffocating defense, the Thunder easily defeated the Lakers 108-90. Holmgren finished with 24 points, 12 rebounds, and three blocks, stepping into an important star role when SGA was clearly having an off night.
Things tightened up in the second half where OKC held Los Angeles to just 37 points out of halftime after a sloppy first half all around. The Thunder committed 16 turnovers but still came out handily on top shooting 49.4 percent from the field and 43.3 percent from the three. It helped that Lakers’ Luca Doncic was in street clothes. They will continue to rely on LeBron James through this series, who led all scorers with 27 points.
That’s nearly 10 more points than SGA, who finished with 18, which marks his lowest output since last season’s Western Conference finals in their Game 3 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves. His seven turnovers outpaced any game of his this season by two. Both Gilgeous-Alexander and coach Mark Daigneault pointed to some rust after an eight-day layoff, with SGA agreeing that he was “loose” with the ball. It didn’t matter much with the monster night by Holmgren.
To read more about his standout night in place of SGA, here is the full story from Thunder Roundtable writer Brandon Rahbar.
The Thunder now take a 1-0 series lead as questions continue to swirl surrounding Doncic and his availability, or not. For OKC, their depth proved that their best player can have a bad night – at least while Doncic isn’t on the court.