Thunder roll past Lakers 125-107

Oklahoma City didn’t just beat the Lakers again. It showed the scarier version of itself — the one that doesn’t need a superhuman Shai Gilgeous-Alexand(espn.ph)7 on Thursday, grabbed a 2-0 series lead, and basically spent the second half teaching the same lesson from Game 1 in a slightly different wa(espn.ph)et loose with the ball or let OKC’s depth start rolling, the margin opens fast. (espn.ph) Game 1. Then the third quarter hit, and the whole thing tilted. Oklahoma City won that quarter 36-22, turning L.A.’s mistakes into transition chances and easy offense. By the end, what had been a close game was another double-digit Thunder win. (espn.ph) ### What was the real killer? Turnovers — again. The Lakers coughed it up 21 times, and the Thunder turned those giveaways into 26 points. Seven of those turnovers came in the third quarter al(espn.ph) and more like a trap door. Against most teams, sloppy possessions are annoying. Against OKC, they’re gasoline. (gmanetwork.com) ### Was this an SGA takeover? Not really, and that’s the point. Gilgeous-Alexander scored 22, same as Holmgren, but this wasn’t one of t(espn.ph) Oklahoma City got 20 from Ajay Mitchell and 18 from Jared McCain, and the bench piled up 48 points. That’s what makes this team hard to scheme for — you can survive a star, but a whole rotation is a different problem. (fox59.com)oints and nine rebounds, and some of his biggest moments came right when the Lakers threatened to make it interesting. Early in the fourth, L.A. cut the lead to five. Holmgren answered with five straight points, pushing the margin back to double digits before the Lakers could really breathe. (espn.ph) ### Did the Lakers do anything well? Yes — enough to make this(fox59.com)g to Oklahoma City. That’s the catch in this series. The Lakers don’t just need shot-making. They need a cleaner game than they’ve managed through two nights. (espn.ph) ### How much is injuries changing this? A lot. The Lakers were again without Luka Doncic because of a strained left hamstring, and Jarred Vanderbilt was also out after hurting his right pinkie in(espn.ph)hrink the margin for error against a team this deep. The Thunder, meanwhile, keep finding scoring from everywhere. (fox59.com) ### So what shifts now? The series moves to Los Angeles for Game 3 on Saturday, May 9. That gives the Lake(espn.ph)e playoffs now, and it already swept Phoenix in Round 1 before taking these first two from L.A. The Thunder don’t look like a team searching for answers. They look like one removing options. (fox59.com) ### Bottom line? The Thu(fox59.com), this series won’t turn on star power. It’ll turn on whether the Lakers can stop feeding OKC extra chances. (gmanetwork.com)