Oklahoma City entered Game 1 without Jalen Williams and still looked structurally complete. Chet Holmgren finished with 24 points and 12 rebounds, Ajay Mitchell added 18 in Williams’ place, and the Thunder beat the Lakers 108-90 on May 5. That matters because the defending champs did not have to shrink their attack while missing one of their biggest creators.
Holmgren gave the Lakers a problem at both ends
The Lakers have already spent most of this postseason trying to survive missing creation and patch the game together around LeBron James. Holmgren made that balancing act harder. He stretched the floor, finished above it, and kept the Lakers from getting comfortable when they tried to crowd the paint.
When Oklahoma City gets that version of Holmgren next to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the offense does not need one player to dominate every touch. The Thunder scored efficiently, shot 49.4% from the field and made 13 threes, and never looked short on answers even with Williams out for a third straight game.
Mitchell kept the missing-piece problem from becoming real
Mitchell’s 18 points were not empty replacement scoring. They kept Oklahoma City’s spacing and tempo intact, especially late in the third quarter when his corner three plus the foul pushed the lead to 84-72.
That is the part of the game the Lakers have to worry about. They were already facing a deeper team, and now the Thunder are showing they can survive an injury without handing away shot quality or lineup balance. Mitchell did not have to mimic Williams. He just had to keep the weak spots from appearing.
The Lakers still made this too easy on Oklahoma City
Los Angeles helped the Thunder by turning the ball over 17 times and failing to punish any of Oklahoma City’s vulnerable stretches. The Lakers opened hot, then spent the rest of the night chasing a game that kept getting faster and wider.
Game 2 can still look different if the Lakers tighten their ballhandling and get cleaner support around James. But Game 1 showed the bigger concern for them. Oklahoma City did not win because one superstar bailed it out. It won because its frontcourt star, its replacement starter, and its defensive pace all stayed in place at the same time. That is what makes this matchup so hard to narrow down.
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