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Tim MacMahon
A number of Authors
OKLAHOMA CITY — Reigning and sure repeat MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored fewer factors and dedicated extra turnovers than he had in some other sport this season in Tuesday’s Sport 1 of the Western Convention semifinals.
His Oklahoma City Thunder nonetheless cruised to a 108-90 win over the Los Angeles Lakers.
Gilgeous-Alexander, whose file streak of 140 consecutive 20-point performances in regular-season video games stays energetic, completed with 18 factors on 8-of-15 taking pictures. It was his lowest-scoring outing in any sport since a lopsided Sport 3 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves in final season’s West finals. The seven turnovers he dedicated had been two greater than he had in any sport this season and the second most in his playoff profession, trailing solely the eight he had in a Sport 6 loss to the Indiana Pacers in final 12 months’s NBA Finals.
“This ain’t Shai versus the Lakers, it is Lakers versus the Thunder,” stated Los Angeles star LeBron James, who led all scorers with 27 factors on 12-of-17 taking pictures. “We’re down 1-0. That is the primary factor. Preserve the primary factor the primary factor, and that is who win or lose. That is all it is about.”
Requested to evaluate his particular person efficiency, Gilgeous-Alexander stated, “I used to be OK. It wasn’t my finest. It wasn’t my worst.”
The Thunder did not want a peak efficiency from Gilgeous-Alexander on an evening when energy ahead Chet Holmgren delivered 24 factors, 12 rebounds and three blocked photographs, and Oklahoma Metropolis held Los Angeles to solely 37 factors within the second half whereas celebrity Luka Doncic (strained hamstring) sat on the bench in road garments.
“I assumed collectively we may have been higher,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault stated. “It clearly wasn’t clear. It was a little bit clunky. … You possibly can’t be grasping with a playoff win that was not an ideal sport. There’s plenty of playoff video games that aren’t good. The opposite group’s making an attempt their finest to squeeze you and make you very uncomfortable. And so we gained an imperfect sport tonight, and that is a very good factor.”
Gilgeous-Alexander and Daigneault each referenced the eight-day layoff between Oklahoma Metropolis’s first-round sweep finale towards the Phoenix Suns and the sequence opener towards the Lakers as a possible issue within the Thunder’s sloppy offense.
Oklahoma Metropolis shot the ball effectively (49.4% from the sector, 43.3% from 3-point vary). However the Thunder, who had been tied for the fewest turnovers within the league with 11.8 per sport within the common season, dedicated 16 within the win over the Lakers.
“I used to be unfastened with the ball, had plenty of turnovers,” stated Gilgeous-Alexander, who tried solely three free throws, a 3rd of his norm. “I believe that involves the rust and never enjoying for a little bit bit. They’re clearly very aggressive, however I really feel like for many of the night time we received nice appears.”
Holmgren emphasised that a few of Gilgeous-Alexander’s turnovers had been the fault of his teammates.
“I believe he made the precise resolution all night time lengthy,” Holmgren stated. “I believe there have been plenty of alternatives the place we weren’t the place we would have liked to be and he was anticipating us to be there. We had a pair turnovers within the pocket like that the place he threw it proper to the place we must always have been and we weren’t there. Within the stat guide, these are his turnovers, however they should not be. … We received to enhance, be higher, be the place we must be.”
ESPN’s Dave McMenamin contributed to this report.
