On Saturday evening, the Oklahoma City Thunder went up 3-0 in their second round playoff series against the Los Angeles Lakers with a dominant 131-108 victory on the road. The Thunder now sit at 7-0 in these playoffs, and got it done on Saturday thanks in large part to an epic 24-point performance from Ajay Mitchell off the bench.
The Lakers have made a habit out of getting off to relatively competitive starts in this series, only to see things fall apart in the second half, which was once again the case on Saturday night.
Now, a stat unearthed by ESPN NBA insider Dave McMenamin has showcased just how dominant Oklahoma City has been after coming back from the locker room in this series.
“19.7 points: How much the Thunder are outscoring the Lakers per game this series. 18.0 points: How much the Thunder are outscoring the Lakers per game this series after halftime,” reported McMenamin on X, formerly Twitter.
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The Lakers have been relentlessly sending double teams at Shai Gilgeous-Alexander so far in this series, hoping that the absence of Thunder star Jalen Williams might make it more difficult for SGA's teammates to beat them.
However, those players have consistently found a way to wake up sooner or later in these games, with Mitchell, Cason Wallace, and others all putting up big numbers in Game 3. Meanwhile, Chet Holmgren has been a force on both sides of the ball through three games and has arguably been the best player in this series so far.
The Thunder will look to complete a sweep of the first eight games of the playoffs when they hit the floor for Game 4 against Los Angeles on Monday evening, once again at the Crypto.com Arena.
On Saturday evening, the Oklahoma City Thunder went up 3-0 in their second round playoff series against the Los Angeles Lakers with a dominant 131-108 victory on the road. The Thunder now sit at 7-0 in these playoffs, and got it done on Saturday thanks in large part to an epic 24-point performance from Ajay Mitchell off the bench.