Kendrick Perkins may still be waiting on breakfast with Oprah and Beyoncé, but after Game 1, his Lakers-Thunder prediction did not look quite as ridiculous.
Oklahoma City beat Los Angeles 108-90 at Paycom Center, opening the series with a win almost everybody expected. The Thunder did not need a superhero night from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. They won with depth, size, pressure and Chet Holmgren turning the frontcourt matchup into a problem the Lakers could not solve.
Holmgren finished with 24 points, 12 rebounds and three blocks, giving Oklahoma City the cleanest two-way performance of the night. Shai added 18 points and six assists, Ajay Mitchell scored 18, and the Thunder bench gave the game its final shove. Jared McCain hit four threes. Isaiah Joe added nine. Oklahoma City kept sending bodies, legs and decisions at a Lakers team that looked older as the night went on.
LeBron James was still brilliant enough to make the box score respectable: 27 points on 12-for-17 shooting with six assists. Rui Hachimura added 18, and Deandre Ayton had 10 points and 12 rebounds. But Los Angeles got almost nothing clean from Austin Reaves, who shot 3-for-16, and the offense never found a second engine.
That was the real story. Without Luka Dončić, the Lakers can compete in stretches. Against Oklahoma City, stretches are not enough. The Thunder do not wait for opponents to get organized. They rush them, crowd them and slowly turn the game into a track meet with consequences.
Game 1 did not end the series. It did make the question louder: how long can the Lakers survive without the one player built to slow everything down?
