LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Lakers gave everything they had. In the end, it was not enough. The Oklahoma City Thunder completed a sweep of the Los Angeles Lakers on Monday night at Crypto.com Arena, winning 115-110 in Game 4 of the Western Conference Semifinals to advance to the next round. OKC finishes the series with seven straight postseason wins, each by at least 18 points, until this one, which came down to the final seconds and reminded everyone just how hard this Lakers team was willing to fight.
SGA goes to work when it counts most
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander finished with 35 points on 11-of-22 shooting, saving his sharpest work for the moments that mattered most. He hit a step-back 3 with under four minutes left to push OKC ahead 102-98, then followed with a turnaround fadeaway to extend the lead to three. When the Lakers were fouling in desperation in the final seconds, SGA converted both free throws to ice the game at 113-110.
Ajay Mitchell continued his breakout postseason with 28 points and four steals, and Chet Holmgren delivered the decisive blow off the bench. With the Lakers clinging to a 110-109 lead and 32 seconds remaining, Holmgren caught a lob from Isaiah Hartenstein and finished through contact for the go-ahead dunk. It was the kind of play that defines a series. Hartenstein, quietly one of the most impactful players of the night, finished with five assists and three steals to go with his interior presence.
Down 19, the Lakers refused to fold
For a stretch of the third quarter, it looked like it might be over early. OKC pushed the lead to 19 behind a relentless Ajay Mitchell and a SGA mid-range clinic, and the Lakers were hemorrhaging turnovers at the worst possible time. The crowd at Crypto.com Arena went quiet. Then LeBron James decided to remind everyone why he is still doing this at 41.
James hit back-to-back 3-pointers to ignite a 14-5 run, and suddenly the building was alive again. Rui Hachimura knocked down two 3s of his own and finished with 14 points in the quarter alone. Then came Jaxson Hayes. With under a minute left in the third, Hayes threw down a cutting dunk off a Luke Kennard pass to tie it at 80, then tipped in a missed Austin Reaves floater at the buzzer to send the Lakers into the fourth with an 84-80 lead. The arena erupted. A team that had no business being in this game had just taken the lead.
The fourth quarter was a back-and-forth war. The Lakers pushed to 92-87 before OKC answered. Marcus Smart gave the crowd one more moment with a steal, a driving layup, and a free throw to tie it at 109 with 40 seconds left. Hachimura drained a step-back 3 and converted a free throw to put LA up 110-109. But Holmgren’s dunk silenced the building, and the Lakers’ final possessions came up empty.
A season that deserves more than a sweep tells
Reaves led the Lakers with 27 points and Hachimura added 25 in one of his best games of the postseason. LeBron finished with 24 points and 12 rebounds, doing everything asked of him on both ends. Hayes gave 18 points and refused to stop competing. The Lakers shot 50.7% from the floor, won the paint 46-44, and outscored OKC in the third quarter 39-31. But 19 turnovers against a team built to create and convert chaos was simply too much to overcome.
It is worth remembering what this team was working with. Luka Doncic, the player who was supposed to change the franchise’s trajectory, did not play a single minute in the postseason due to a hamstring injury. The Lakers beat a Houston Rockets team in six games in the first round without him, then pushed an undefeated Thunder squad to the brink of their composure in Game 4 before finally running out of answers. No team in NBA history had ever come back from 3-0, and this group did not change that. But they made OKC earn every single win.
The offseason questions will come soon enough. For one night at Crypto.com Arena, this Lakers team showed exactly who they are: a group that competes until the final buzzer, even when the math is against them.
Final: Oklahoma City Thunder 115, Los Angeles Lakers 110
Notable Stats of the Game
Austin Reaves (LAL): 27 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists
Rui Hachimura (LAL): 25 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists
LeBron James (LAL): 24 points, 12 rebounds , 3 assists
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (OKC): 35 points, 1 rebounds, 8 assists
Ajay Mitchell (OKC): 28 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists
Chet Holmgren (OKC): 16 points, 9 rebounds
