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Chet Holmgren and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander each scored 22 points as the Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Los Angeles Lakers 125-107 on Thursday night to take a 2-0 lead in the Western Conference semifinal series.
Ajay Mitchell had 20 points and Jaren McCain added 18 for the defending champions, who improved to 6-0 in the playoffs. The Lakers will host Game 3 on Saturday.
The Lakers are again without scoring champion Luka Doncic, who is out indefinitely with a pulled left hamstring. They also lost forward Jared Vanderbilt, a reserve forward who dislocated his right pinky finger in the second quarter of Game 1.
The Lakers also had three players finish with five fouls, limiting their ability to be offensive late in the game.
Lakers guard Austin Reaves, who struggled with his shot in Game 1, scored 31 points on 10-for-16 shooting in Game 2. LeBron James followed that up with 23, coming off a 27-point effort in Game 1.
With the Lakers up 63-61 early in the third quarter, Gilgeous-Alexander paired with Reaves and was called for his fourth foul. After review, it was upgraded to a Flagrant 1 to follow Gilgeous-Alexander. Oklahoma City’s Alex Caruso was called for a technical foul as the situation was being handled.
Gilgeous-Alexander left the game tied 65-61 with the Lakers, but the Thunder rallied without him and took control. On a fast break, Holmgren found a trailing Jaylin Williams, who hit a three-pointer and was fouled. His free throw put the Thunder up 85-74.
The Thunder outscored the Lakers 32-15 after Gilgeous-Alexander took a 93-80 lead into the third quarter. The Lakers cut Oklahoma City’s lead to five in the fourth quarter before the Thunder pulled away again.
The Pistons continued the winning streak to take a 2-0 lead
Cade Cunningham had 25 points and 10 assists and Tobias Harris had 21 points as the Detroit Pistons beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 107-97 on Thursday night to take a 2-0 lead in their second-round series.
Game 3 is Saturday in Cleveland, where the Cavs are 4-0 in the first round against Toronto.
The top-seeded Pistons have won five straight games since Orlando put them on the brink of a first-round exit.
Cade Cunningham leads the Detroit Pistons to another victory
Donovan Mitchell scored 31 points and Jarrett Allen had 22 points and seven rebounds as the fourth-seeded Cavs bounced back from a poor performance in Game 1.
James Harden, however, missed 10 of 13 shots and was limited to 10 points. Harden had four turnovers, including one with 33 seconds left when the Cavs trailed by just six.
Cleveland’s Max Straus scored just three points after scoring 19 in the series opener. The Cavaliers went 11 to none from 3-point range in the fourth quarter, with Strauss missing four.
Detroit’s Duncan Robinson had 17 points, making 5-9 three-pointers, and Dennis Jenkins came off the bench to score 14 points, his third game in double figures.
Cleveland shot first and didn’t lead again until Evan Mobley’s dunk early in the fourth quarter put the visitors ahead 81-79.
The Pistons led by 11 points in the first quarter and 14 in the second, but didn’t pull away until the final minutes.
The Cavs scored the first six points in the final quarter and Detroit responded with play on both ends of the court.
Robinson had the tiebreaking three-pointer with 9:40 left and Cunningham made a three-pointer to put the Pistons ahead by nine points with 2:12 left to seal the win.
The Pistons won Game 1 by 10 points with both Cunningham and Mitchell scoring 23 points.
Cavs reserve guard Sam Merrill missed Game 2 with a hamstring injury after being hurt in the series opener. He averaged 12.8 points during the regular season and scored in double figures twice in the seven-game, first-round series against the Raptors.
