The Lakers had no answer for Chet Holmgren, who finished with 24 points and 12 rebounds in Game 1.
Oklahoma City Thunder coach Mark Daigneault isn’t interested in what happened in previous matchups against the Los Angeles Lakers this season and isn’t concerned with what outsiders say will happen in the Thunder’s Western Conference semifinals series against the Lakers.
The 4-0 record and 29.3 point-differential against the Lakers in the regular season? Meaningless now. Those saying the Thunder are heavy favorites to beat Los Angeles in four or five games? Of no importance to him or Thunder players.
Oklahoma City’s talent, depth and Kia MVP finalist Shai Gilgeous-Alexander allowed the Thunder to pull away from the Lakers for a 108-90 victory Tuesday in Game 1.
“Every game’s unwritten,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said before Game 1. “Everything before the game doesn’t matter, and everything after the game doesn’t matter. All that matters is the ball’s going to go up at 7:30, the score’s going to be 0-0, and the team with more points is going to win.
“And you see that time and time again in competition. You can see it in different sports. That’s just a law of competition, and I think the more our team has rooted into that over time, it’s allowed us to stay very present and allowed us to block out any noise that’s outside of that.”
Game 2 is Thursday in Oklahoma City (9:30 ET, Prime Video).
Here are four takeaways from Game 1:
1. Holmgren looms large for Thunder
It was clear from the opening tip-off that Oklahoma City wanted to see if its frontcourt could take advantage of the Lakers’ frontcourt. Forward-center Chet Holmgren had six field-goal attempts and four free-throw attempts early in the game and finished with a team-high 24 points, game-high 12 rebounds and game-high three blocks.
He had six dunks. In one second-quarter sequence, he rebounded his own miss and put it back for a dunk. On Oklahoma City’s next possession, Gilgeous-Alexander assisted on another Holmgren dunk.
The 7-foot-1 center-forward showed his versatility with a 3-pointer, a block and a dunk in another 60-second stretch in the first half.
Oklahoma City’s 7-foot center-forward Isaiah Hartenstein had eight points, nine rebounds and four assists, and the Thunder’s nine offensive rebounds – three by Holmgren, two by Hartenstein – led to a 21-11 edge in second-chance points.
“When they did get an offensive rebound, they absolutely killed us,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said. “We’ve got to do a better job of building back out on the offensive rebound.”
2. Oklahoma City’s depth shines again
The Thunder’s reserves outscored the Lakers’ bench 34-15.
Jared McCain, a key trade-deadline acquisition for Oklahoma City in February, had 12 points, all on 3-pointers. Isaiah Joe scored nine points and Alex Caruso did what he usually does offensively and defensively with five points, two rebounds and two assists. Cason Wallace contributed five points, four rebounds, three steals and two assists.
Already short-handed with Luka Dončić (strained left hamstring) sidelined, the Lakers were hit with another injury when backup Jarred Vanderbilt sustained a painful finger injury. It was the little finger on his right hand, and he is a left-handed shooter.
3. Too many mistakes, not enough offense dooms Lakers
Redick liked some of what he saw. The Lakers held the Thunder to 108 points, limited Gilgeous-Alexander, one of three finalists for Kia MVP this season, to 18 points and forced him to commit seven turnovers.
And he didn’t like some of what he saw.
“You’re playing the world champs, your margin for error in terms of mistakes is not that high,” he said. “You can make mistakes. Basketball’s a game full of mistakes. There’s just too many tonight. We’ve got to clean that up. … We just got to do a better job with execution. It comes down to just the attention to detail on that. I know we’ll clean things up and be better.”
Redick said he was referring mostly to his team’s defense.
But this was also the fourth consecutive game in which the Lakers scored fewer than 100 points. Los Angeles shot 41.7% from the field and 10-for-30 on 3-pointers, and Lakers guards Austin Reaves and Marcus Smart were a combined 7-for-31 from the field and 2-for-13 on 3s.
Reaves, who is working his way back in game form from an oblique injury sustained against the Thunder on April 2, was 3-for-16 and 0-for-5 and had four turnovers. This was his third game back from that injury.
“He didn’t play well, but he’s going to bounce back,” Redick said. “He is a great player.”
LeBron James led the Lakers with 27 points on 12-for-17 shooting, and Rui Hachimura continued his strong shooting with 18 points on 7-for-13 from the field.
4. Not Gilgeous-Alexander’s best but still good
Gilgeous-Alexander scored at least 20 points in every regular-season game in 2025-26 and broke Wilt Chamberlain’s streak of 126 consecutive games with at least 20. He extended that streak to 140 games by season’s end.
But his 18 points in Game 1 – he had 18 in Game 3 of the second round against Denver last season – were 13 points fewer than his season average and 15 fewer than his playoff average this season. The seven turnovers were five more than his career playoff average, and he attempted just three free throws after averaging 9.0 attempts during the regular season and 12.3 against Phoenix in the first round.
Still, the 2024-25 Kia MVP was 8-for-15 from the field, making shots at the rim and in the mid-range, his specialty. Six assists and two blocks helped make his stat line in the box score look better, too.
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Jeff Zillgitt has covered the NBA since 2008. You can email him at jzillgitt@nba.com, find his archive here and follow him on X.
