The Oklahoma City Thunder are getting the job done in their repeat quest, ripping off six straight wins to start the playoffs. After sweeping the Phoenix Suns in the first round, the Thunder have jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the second round against the Los Angeles Lakers with a 125-107 win in Game 2 on Thursday night.
While the final scores, both 18-point wins in favor of the defending champs, may not look all that competitive, the Thunder have been tested in this series. After Game 2, head coach Mark Daigneault pointed out how the Lakers took the fight to Oklahoma City in the first half, via Brandon Rahbar of Daily Thunder.
“LA's physicality in the first half, they were the aggressor,” Daigneault said. “We had to take a punch in the first half.”
The score showed that, as the Lakers went back and forth with the Thunder for the entirety of the first half. At the break, the Lakers had a one-point lead.
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The Lakers continued to play with that same fire to start the second half, extending their lead to as many as five early on. However, the Thunder responded after Shai Gilgeous-Alexander picked up his fourth foul, as Ajay Mitchell and Jared McCain spearheaded a run that helped OKC wrestle control of the game back.
It was a similar story in Game 1, when the Lakers kept the game close in the first half before the Thunder ran away with things in the second half.
Oklahoma City, having been through a championship run once, now knows what it takes to get to the mountaintop and will be locked in for Game 3 back in Los Angeles on Saturday night. While the Lakers are wounded and hoping to get Luka Doncic back at some point later in this series, the Thunder will be doing everything they can to show the killer instinct to not allow them to do that.
Daigneault and company know the Lakers will come out with a lot of desperation, like they did in Game 2. However, that may not be enough against the best team in basketball.
The Oklahoma City Thunder are getting the job done in their repeat quest, ripping off six straight wins to start the playoffs. After sweeping the Phoenix Suns in the first round, the Thunder have jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the second round against the Los Angeles Lakers with a 125-107 win in Game 2 on Thursday night.