Thunder ride Ajay Mitchell’s star turn to 3-0 lead over Lakers
LOS ANGELES — It comes as no shock that the Lakers are being lit up by a Thunder guard by way of three video games of their Western Conference semifinal collection.
But whereas the Lakers have truly succeeded in slowing reigning MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander — holding him to 21 factors per sport, greater than 10 beneath his season common — they have no solutions for second-year guard Ajay Mitchell.
The Belgian-born second-round choose, who wasn’t even within the Thunder’s playoff rotation as a rookie throughout Oklahoma City’s championship run final season, torched the Lakers for twenty-four factors and 10 assists and not using a turnover Saturday in a dominant 131-108 win in Game 3. His efficiency has the defending champions on the precipice of their second straight sweep regardless of a pedestrian collection by Gilgeous-Alexander.
“We all know on the team that he’s good,” injured Thunder star wing Jalen Williams instructed ESPN, “and now the world is kind of finding out.”
Mitchell, 23, is prospering as a fill-in starter whereas Williams recovers from a left hamstring pressure that he suffered in Game 2 of the primary spherical towards the Phoenix Suns. He has averaged 20.7 factors, 6.7 assists and 1.0 turnover whereas capturing 53.3% from the ground within the three wins over the Lakers.
“I think the biggest thing for me was just going out there and being confident,” Mitchell mentioned. “I know what I can do. When I go out there, I just want to compete and help this team win and play freely.”
Mitchell has additionally been a significant component for the Thunder defensively within the collection, taking the first task of guarding Lakers star Austin Reaves to begin video games. Reaves had his second poor capturing efficiency of the collection Saturday, when he was 5-of-13 from the ground, together with 2-of-7 with Mitchell as his main defender, in accordance to ESPN monitoring.
“Reaves is obviously an incredibly tough cover, and he’s made him earn everything,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault mentioned. “He’s stayed fundamentally sound. He’s made very few egregious mistakes there and hasn’t given him anything easy. He obviously was huge offensively tonight in the second half, but defensively he’s been as steady as they come.”
Mitchell’s playoff success is not a sudden growth. He was a direct contributor as a rookie who began his profession on a two-way deal earlier than midseason toe surgical procedure sidelined him for months. He had a stellar second season, averaging 13.6 factors and three.6 assists per sport for the 64-18 Thunder and ending fifth in Sixth Man of the Year voting.
But Mitchell had treasured little playoff expertise, basically taking part in solely in rubbish time throughout final 12 months’s title run. His position elevated considerably after Williams, whose standing is taken into account week-to-week, went down.
Mitchell struggled in his first playoff begin, going 5-of-20 from the ground within the Thunder’s Game 3 win over the Suns, however Daigneault and his teammates praised his aggressiveness in that outing. He has scored not less than 20 factors in three of the 4 video games since, the exception being an 18-point efficiency within the Game 2 win over the Lakers.
In Game 3, Mitchell joined Magic Johnson, Chris Paul and Tyrese Haliburton as the one gamers since 1990 to have not less than 20 factors, 10 assists and three steals with out committing a turnover in a playoff sport, in accordance to ESPN Research.
“He’s just finding his jogging,” Gilgeous-Alexander mentioned. “It’s obviously his first run in the playoffs. It’s obviously a different ballgame. He’s just getting more and more comfortable as the game goes on, as the series goes on. I said this before, he had a rough [Game 2 in Phoenix]but he was so confident out there. I was never worried that he was going to figure it out, and he’s showing that.”
Gilgeous-Alexander has but to get in an prolonged groove towards the Lakers, who’ve had guard Marcus Smart hug Gilgeous-Alexander all over the court docket to deny him the ball and have double-teamed him aggressively when he has had the ball.
“Obviously, I haven’t been my best in performances, but I think I’ve been able to help the team win and that’s most important,” mentioned Gilgeous-Alexander, who had 9 assists in Game 3. “As long as we win. If the rest of the playoff run or the rest of my career look like what it looked like the past few games, I’d be OK with it because we won games.”
The proven fact that the Lakers’ defensive schemes have succeeded in limiting Gilgeous-Alexander’s manufacturing solely provides to the frustration of being handed three lopsided losses. The Lakers have misplaced three consecutive playoff video games by not less than 15 factors for the primary time in franchise historical past, in accordance to ESPN Research.
“The MVP is [held to] 18 [points]22 [points]7-of-20 tonight, and they’ve kicked our ass three straight games,” Lakers coach JJ Redick mentioned. “They’re an incredible basketball team.”
Mitchell dominated firstly of the fourth quarter when the Thunder put Game 3 out of attain, most of which occurred whereas Gilgeous-Alexander took his regular relaxation time. Mitchell accounted for 18 factors within the first six minutes of the quarter, scoring 9 and shelling out 4 assists because the Thunder pushed their lead to 18.
“He’s ready for the moment,” Williams mentioned. “Especially me being out, it’s like embracing that moment. The team wants you to shoot those shots. The team wants you to be aggressive. When you’re aggressive, especially him, you end up doing the right play more times than not. And he made the right play every single time. He’s a hell of a player.”
ESPN’s Dave McMenamin contributed to this report.
