Thunder dominate Lakers, grab 3-0 series lead in West semifinals
Ajay Mitchell’s playoff career-high 24 points pushed Oklahoma City to a 131-108 rout and a 3-0 series lead. The Lakers now face history, and a game plan that has not worked once.
The Thunder did more than win Game 3. They turned the Lakers’ home floor into another stage for a mismatch, rolling to a 131-108 victory at Crypto.com Arena and taking a 3-0 lead in the Western Conference semifinals.
Ajay Mitchell delivered the sharpest burst of the night, finishing with a playoff career-high 24 points and 10 assists in 29:49. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander added 23 points and nine assists, and together the two guards accounted for 47 points in a game that quickly slipped away from Los Angeles. Chet Holmgren produced 18 points and nine rebounds, while Cason Wallace scored 16 and Isaiah Joe added 12 as Oklahoma City kept getting useful minutes from every corner of the rotation.
That depth has become the series’ defining feature. With Jalen Williams and Thomas Sorber inactive, the Thunder still found enough pressure, pace and shot creation to seize control again and again. Oklahoma City has now won the first three games by 18, 15 and 23 points, and its playoff record moved to 7-0. The message has been consistent: the Thunder can absorb absences and still dictate the game’s rhythm.
Los Angeles, by contrast, never found a stable answer. LeBron James finished with 19 points, eight assists and six rebounds, Rui Hachimura scored 21, Austin Reaves added 17 and Luke Kennard scored 18 off the bench, but the Lakers never turned that production into a sustained run. Luka Dončić was inactive, and Oklahoma City took full advantage of the mismatch, applying constant defensive pressure and forcing the Lakers to play on uncomfortable terms.
The challenge now is both tactical and psychological. Teams that have led a playoff series 3-0 have never lost it, and no NBA team has ever come all the way back from a 3-0 deficit. That history hangs over a Lakers group that needs four straight wins just to survive. To stay alive, Los Angeles has to slow Oklahoma City’s tempo, clean up its handling against pressure and find a way to keep the Thunder from turning chaos into fuel.
The Oklahoman singled out Wallace and Joe for their impact, and that kind of production has mattered because Oklahoma City keeps winning the margins. What looked like antics in the early games has become leverage now, another way for the Thunder to unsettle Los Angeles and keep the series moving exactly where they want it, one win from the Western Conference finals.
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