The Thunder make timely shots down the stretch as they complete a series sweep of the Lakers.<\/p>\n
\u2022\u00a0Download the NBA App<\/a><\/p>\n One team remains unbeaten headed into the NBA\u2019s conference finals.<\/p>\n That\u2019s the Oklahoma City Thunder, the defending champions and No. 1 seed in the Western Conference who eliminated the Los Angeles Lakers<\/a> with a 115-110 victory<\/a> in Game 4 Monday.<\/p>\n It was Los Angeles\u2019 most complete four-quarter effort, and it still wasn\u2019t enough. The Thunder again had too many options with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Ajay Mitchell in the backcourt, Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein in the frontcourt and Jared McCain and Alex Caruso off the bench.<\/p>\n Holmgren\u2019s dunk with 33 seconds left put the Thunder up 111-110, and Gilgeous-Alexander, who hit the 30-point mark for the first time in the series, made two free throws with 12.2 seconds remaining for a 113-110 Thunder lead.<\/p>\n Austin Reaves missed a 3-pointer, and Mitchell, the Thunder\u2019s breakout star in the playoffs, secured the victory with two free throws. The Thunder will play the winner of the Minnesota Timberwolves-San Antonio Spurs series in the Western Conference final.<\/p>\n Here are 4 takeaways:<\/p>\n 1. Thunder guards excel again <\/p>\n Mitchell\u2019s outstanding production in the playoffs continued with a playoff career-high 28 points on 12-for-19 shooting, four assists, four steals and three rebounds.<\/p>\n That followed up his 24-point, 10-assist effort in Game 3.<\/p>\n Mitchell\u2019s performance has helped the Thunder overcome the absence of Jalen Williams (left hamstring strain) who hasn\u2019t played since Game 2 of the first round against Phoenix.<\/p>\n Mitchell excelled in transition and with his midrange game, averaging 22.5 points on 56.3% shooting against the Lakers.<\/p>\n Gilgeous-Alexander, the 2024-25 MVP and finalist for the award this season, scored 35 points (12 on free throws) and had eight assists.<\/p>\n McCain, who the Thunder acquired from Philadelphia in a February trade deadline move, scored 13 points, and Caruso had nine points, four rebounds and two steals.<\/p>\n 2. Lakers\u2019 strong effort falls short<\/p>\n The Lakers reversed some trends that troubled them in the first three games. They played a much better second half, outscored the Thunder in the third quarter for the first time in the series and had a chance to win late in the fourth quarter. Los Angeles neutralized Oklahoma City\u2019s depth and limited Holmgren until late in the game.<\/p>\n \u201cWe did not expect them to give us an unearned win,\u201d Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said.<\/p>\n Turnovers remained an issue as the Thunder turned 19 Lakers turnovers into 22 points. Rui Hachimura was a bright spot with his shooting throughout the series, and he scored 25 points on 9-for-15 shooting. He shot 55.2% on 3s in the series.<\/p>\n Jaxson Hayes contributed 18 points.<\/p>\n \u201cThere were two different times during the game where our team could have gave in, could have let go of the rope. We didn\u2019t,\u201d Lakers coach JJ Redick said.<\/p>\n 3. Holmgren, Hartenstein shine <\/p>\n Holmgren scored eight of 16 points in the final 5:10 of the fourth quarter, and his dunk on an assist from Hartenstein with 32.8 seconds remaining turned out to be the winning shot. He also had nine rebounds.<\/p>\n Hartenstein had just five points but grabbed 10 rebounds, delivered five assists and generated five steals, and in his 28 minutes, Oklahoma City outscored the Lakers by 30 points.<\/p>\n 4. What is the future for James, Lakers?<\/p>\n Luka Don\u010di\u0107 , who missed the playoffs because of hamstring strain suffered April 2 against the Thunder, Austin Reaves, Jarred Vanderbilt, Deandre Ayton, Jake LaRavia, Marcus Smart, Dalton Knecht, Nick Smith (team option), Bronny James and Adou Thiero are under contract for next season. Reaves, Smart and Ayton have player options.<\/p>\n Rui Hachimura, Luke Kennard, Jaxson Hayes and Maxi Kleber are free agents, as is James.<\/p>\n What will James do? Retire? Re-sign with the Lakers? Join another team?<\/p>\n At 41 years old, James can still play at a high level, and his future is one of the NBA\u2019s biggest offseason storylines.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know what the future holds for me, obviously, as it stands right now tonight,\u201d James said. \u201cI\u2019ll sit back \u2013 like I think I said it last year after we lost to Minnesota there \u2013 go back and recalibrate with my family, and talk with them, and spend some time with them, and then when the time comes, obviously, you guys will know what I decided to do.\u201d<\/p>\n He said his family and their thoughts will play a significant role in his decision.<\/p>\n Redick doesn\u2019t know what the roster will look like next season.<\/p>\n \u201cYou have to be realistic and assess where you\u2019re at, and we\u2019re not good enough right now,\u201d he said. \u201cThere probably will be some continuity. There probably won\u2019t be, but that\u2019s what the next two months are for.\u201d<\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n Jeff Zillgitt has covered the NBA since 2008. You can email him at\u00a0jzillgitt@nba.com<\/a>, find\u00a0his archive here<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0follow him on X<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Thunder make timely shots down the stretch as they complete a series sweep of the Lakers. \u2022\u00a0Download…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":638183,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[275564,355,99],"class_list":["post-638182","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-lakers-thunder-game-4","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638182","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=638182"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638182\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/638183"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=638182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=638182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=638182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
LeBron James had 24 points and 12 rebounds, and Austin Reaves overcame his Game 3 struggles with 27 points, seven rebounds, six assists, two blocks and eight turnovers.<\/p>\n