Player grades: Thunder pull away late in 108-90 Game 1 win over Lakers

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OKLAHOMA CITY — Waiting for the rest of his teammates to catch up, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander threw a routine bounce-pass to Isaiah Hartenstein. After trailing the play, the 28-year-old fluttered up a patented floater that fell through. He mimicked being a butterfly with his hands as both sides cleared their benches.

The Oklahoma City Thunder did just enough to get a 108-90 Game 1 win over the Los Angeles Lakers. They open the Round 2 playoff series with a 1-0 lead.

After most expected a walk in the park for the Thunder, the Lakers showed that there’s some fight in them. They opened up with the first seven points. A well-rested LeBron James shouldered his way for an and-one layup and then drilled a pull-up outside jumper.

That rattled some of OKC’s confidence. Unlike the last two times the Lakers were in town, the Thunder didn’t run them out of the gym from the start. Instead, Los Angeles attacked them in the interior. Eventually, the reigning NBA champions settled down — more specifically, Chet Holmgren.

As long as the Lakers sent multiple defenders Gilgeous-Alexander’s way, someone was left open. It was a simple math game. That turned out to be Holmgren. The seven-footer chilled around the dunker spot. He was spoonfed easy dunks. The Thunder built up a 31-26 lead after the first quarter.

Playing the second unit sans Jalen Williams, the Thunder went with another lineup that has garnered success. Jared McCain got buckets in a frenzy. A daring pull-up 3-pointer saw them balloon their lead to double-digit points without Gilgeous-Alexander. A common occurrence this year.

Needing to knock off the rust, the Thunder were on a roll. Holmgren met Deandre Ayton at the apex of his floater. He swatted the attempt away. Hartenstein then threw the ball back to him on an alley-oop connection that ended with Jarred Vanderbilt breaking his pinky finger.

Even with Gilgeous-Alexander struggling to dissect Los Angeles’ double-team defense, the Thunder kept their distance on the scoreboard. They had 30 points in the third quarter. At the halftime break, OKC had a 61-53 advantage. Not bad, but definitely felt like it could’ve been a lot more.

After the break, both teams saw their offense dip. The Thunder couldn’t completely break it open — even when there were several moments when it felt like they were on the verge. Rui Hachimura’s outside shooting kept the Lakers within single-digit points.

Knowing the Thunder were one nuclear scoring run away from putting this to bed, Gilgeous-Alexander’s frustration finally boiled over. He flung a wristband over to the crowd after another missed layup. He eventually made the Lakers pay for their hysterical four-on-one defensive game plan. To end the third quarter, Gilgeous-Alexander found Ajay Mitchell for a four-point play.

Finally, a big-time scoring play. The Thunder put up 23 points in the third quarter. They held an 84-72 lead over the Lakers. Once again, OKC’s bench came in to expand its advantage. Alex Caruso’s one-handed jam had the OKC crowd popping. McCain made back-to-back 3-pointers to give them a 94-75 advantage.

The Thunder scored 24 points in the final frame. They led by as many as 21 points. Any uneasing feeling that OKC could pull a Denver Game 1 was slowly erased as the second half played out. The Lakers just didn’t have the offensive firepower to mount anything seriously.

The Thunder shot 49% from the field and went 13-of-30 (43.3%) from 3. They shot 11-of-12 on free throws. They had 29 assists on 42 baskets. Four Thunder players scored double-digit points.

Gilgeous-Alexander struggled with 18 points and six assists. Holmgren finished with 24 points and 12 rebounds. Mitchell had 18 points and four assists. McCain scored 12 points off the bench.

Meanwhile, the Lakers shot 41% from the field and went 10-of-30 (33.3%) from 3. They shot 10-of-13 on free throws. They had 26 assists on 35 baskets. Four Lakers players scored double-digit points.

James led the way with 27 points and six assists. Hachimura finished with 18 points and two rebounds. Marcus Smart had 12 points and seven assists. Ayton tallied 10 points and 12 rebounds.

Not the prettiest or most convincing Game 1 win, but the Thunder take care of business in their first duel with the Lakers. Even when Gilgeous-Alexander gets his game muddied up, the rest of OKC has proven to continue to function like a high-octane machine. It’s one of their best traits as an NBA win machine. Plenty to improve on, but they did enough to pull away late.

Let’s see how much gas the Lakers have in the tank after this. Considering the circumstances, this was probably their best bet at catching the Thunder sleeping — at least in these first two games of the playoff series. On fully-rested legs, James showed out. But we’ll see how the 41-year-old continues along as this Round 2 series plays out on an every-other-day basis. So far, things have gone chalk. Even if it took OKC longer than most anticipated to run away with Game 1.

Let’s look at Thunder player grades:

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander: C-minus

Anticipating the double, Gilgeous-Alexander went for his escape valve. After Jaylin Williams faked a screen, he sat at the top of the key. Waiting for the ball to reach him, James beat him to the punch. The 41-year-old intercepted the reigning MVP’s pass. Another frustrating turnover led to an easy fastbreak dunk for the Lakers.

Gilgeous-Alexander finished with 18 points on 8-of-15 shooting, six assists and two rebounds. He shot 0-of-1 from 3 and went 2-of-3 on free throws. He also had two blocks and one steal.

Everything that could’ve gone wrong, did, for Gilgeous-Alexander. The Lakers completely threw him off-kilter with constant double teams. Once that bold game plan resulted in tangible turnovers and missed shots, they got even more daring. At one point, four Los Angeles players had their eyes set on the reigning MVP.

One of Gilgeous-Alexander’s superpowers is his elite ball security. Rarely does he turn it over multiple times. That’s something you just don’t see from a high-usage NBA superstar like him. But the Lakers made him look like Luka Doncic with seven turnovers. As wacky as their defensive game plan looked, it worked out.

Elsewhere, Gilgeous-Alexander struggled to generate looks. That comes with the territory of how he was defended. Seldom did he get any one-on-one looks. The Lakers ensured those were limited. That likely explains why he finished with fewer than 20 points for the first time this whole season.

They were able to get away with it this time, but the Thunder need more from Gilgeous-Alexander. If you roll out this type of production from your MVP candidate — especially without Jalen Williams — that could lead to dropping some bad losses. The rest of the team stepped up, but this is not a long-term winning formula. They need him to return to being an efficient 30-plus point machine.

Chet Holmgren: A

Running towards the corner, Holmgren read the court perfectly. He went with a backdoor cut as all of Los Angeles paid attention to Gilgeous-Alexander’s next move. He walked into an easy-peasy alley-oop as the reigning MVP leveraged his gravity.

Holmgren finished with 24 points on 9-of-17 shooting, 12 rebounds and one assist. He shot 2-of-2 from 3 and went 4-of-4 on free throws. He also had three blocks.

Playing within the flow of the offense, Holmgren benefited from being forgotten. Because of how extreme the Lakers went with their all-eyes-on-Gilgeous-Alexander defensive approach, that left at least one person open on the Thunder in the halfcourt. That turned out to be the seven-footer.

Hanging around the paint, the Thunder fed Holmgren with a bunch of alley-oops and putback dunks. He morphed into prime DeAndre Jordan as the Lakers lacked size to battle him on his jumps. He had 18 points in the first half from working off that formula alone. He also helped OKC keep its head above water on the boards.

Defensively, the Lakers rarely dared to go at Holmgren. James has the cache to do so, but the rest of Los Angeles’ players are middling role players. Nobody really has the slashing or finishing talent to go at the seven-footer. That’s why the Lakers struggled to get to 90 points on poor efficiency.

Holmgren continues to be humongous for the Thunder’s playoff run. Following in line with the rest of the season, he’s stepped up in spots when needed. He might not have the flashy isolation buckets or can break down his defender one-on-one, but he’ll gladly serve the meats and potatoes of OKC’s offense to keep the scoreboard moving.

Ajay Mitchell: B

After the Lakers sent three at Gilgeous-Alexander, the Thunder quickly took advantage of the numbers game. After Hartenstein pitched the ball back to Mitchell, the 23-year-old caused one of the biggest uproars of the night. He swished in a corner look. And because of Smart’s clumsy closeout, he completed a four-point play.

Mitchell finished with 18 points on 7-of-16 shooting, four assists and two rebounds. He shot 1-of-5 from 3 and went 3-of-3 on free throws.

Until Williams’ return, the Thunder will continue to depend on Mitchell as their second-best scorer. Considering they’ve won three NBA playoff games in a row since then, not a shabby backup plan, I must say. Against the Lakers, it was the same type of shot diet at going to the rim with zero concern for his well-being.

This time, the Lakers failed to plant any doubt in Mitchell’s mind to go away from that. He sliced through Los Angeles’ defense. The jumper eventually joined in on the party. He had eight points in the third quarter alone as the Thunder stiff-armed Los Angeles on the scoreboard.

The Thunder will take all of the offense they can get. Especially if the Lakers left Game 1 thinking their defensive game plan against Gilgeous-Alexander was attainable. Mitchell is one of the few guys who could make Los Angeles reconsider its radical approach. He’s shown he’s not afraid to get shots up in his first real NBA playoff run.

Jared McCain: B-plus

Receiving Mitchell’s pass, McCain quickly went up for the outside jumper. Swish. Next possession, those two connected once again. At the same spot, too. Back-to-back 3-pointers had the 22-year-old feeling himself and giving the Thunder more reasons to pencil him into the rotation.

McCain finished with 12 points on 4-of-7 shooting, two rebounds and two assists. He shot 4-of-5 from 3.

Just some big-time buckets by McCain. He scored nine points in the final frame — all on outside makes. As Gilgeous-Alexander rested on the bench, the Thunder’s second-unit offense put this one away. Quite the luxury to have for the NBA superstars. Others in his shoes usually see the opposite effect.

Going a dozen deep, the Thunder are still trying to figure out their playoff rotation against the Lakers. Through Game 1, McCain has made a sound case for why he should be among the must-play group. They need a bucket-getter on the floor. And among their group of guys that fit their profile, he showed that the bright lights aren’t too much for him.

We’ll see what McCain’s rotation minutes look like in Game 2 and beyond. The Lakers don’t really have the premier-perimeter scorers to make the Thunder pay for playing him aside from James. There’s no question that his scoring and shooting are valuable enough to deal with those headaches either way, though.

Highlights:

This article originally appeared on OKC Thunder Wire: Player grades: Thunder pull away late in 108-90 Game 1 win over Lakers

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