Austin Reaves Praises Thunder After Dominant Showing: ‘Basically Perfect'

The Oklahoma City Thunder are poised to compete for their second consecutive NBA title, leading the Los Angeles Lakers with a 3-0 tally in their Western Conference semifinals series.

The reigning NBA champions secured their 3-0 lead with a dominant 131-108 road victory over the Lakers at Crypto.com Arena on Saturday night.

The Thunder deployed a balanced scoring attack, showing off their elite depth at every position. Seven players scored in double figures as OKC completed its third consecutive double-digit win over the Lakers.

Second-year guard Ajay Mitchell led the way with 24 points, followed by reigning league MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander with 23. Chet Holmgren finished the contest with 18 points, and Cason Wallace added 16 on 4/6 shooting from behind the 3-point arc.

Lakers guard Austin Reaves praised the Thunder’s team chemistry following Saturday night’s Game 3 contest.

“They’re a connected group. Their pieces fit. Basically perfect. So it’s tough to beat them,” Reaves told reporters. “They got really good players.”

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Reaves struggled offensively in Game 3, scoring 17 points on 5/13 shooting from the field.

Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault talked about what went into defending Reaves, who scored 31 points in Game 2.

“Reaves is obviously an incredibly tough cover, and he’s made him earn everything,” Daigneault said after the game. “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.”

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Game 4 will tipoff at 10:30 p.m. ET on Monday.

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This story was originally published May 10, 2026 at 7:46 PM.