{"id":727048,"date":"2026-05-06T09:06:18","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T09:06:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/727048\/"},"modified":"2026-05-06T09:06:18","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T09:06:18","slug":"thunder-dominate-lebron-james-lakers-to-win-game-1-basketball-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/727048\/","title":{"rendered":"Thunder dominate LeBron James, Lakers to win Game 1 | Basketball News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Published On 6 May 20266 May 2026<\/p>\n

The Oklahoma City Thunder overpowered the LeBron James-led Los Angeles Lakers 108-90 to grab a 1-0 lead in their NBA Western Conference semifinal series.<\/p>\n

A balanced offensive performance and steely defensive display from the reigning NBA champions were enough to seal victory over the depleted Lakers, who started brightly but trailed for the final three quarters, on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list<\/p>\n

Chet Holmgren led the Thunder with 24 points and 12 rebounds while reigning NBA Most Valuable Player Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Ajay Mitchell added 18 points apiece.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were a little choppy, a little rusty, but offensively we just stuck with it,\u201d Gilgeous-Alexander said, saluting a Thunder defence that restricted the Lakers to their lowest score in a playoff game since 2021.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just try to make people play outside their comfort zone, as simple as that,\u201d Gilgeous-Alexander said of the Thunder defence. \u201cWhatever guys like to do, we like to take away from them.\u201d<\/p>\n

The commanding Thunder victory underscored the size of the task facing the fourth-seeded Lakers if they are to defy the odds and upset the champions in the best-of-seven series.<\/p>\n

Oklahoma City completed a 4-0 regular-season sweep over the Lakers, winning each game by an average margin of 29.3 points.<\/p>\n

Tuesday\u2019s series-opener at Oklahoma City\u2019s Paycom Center echoed the Thunder\u2019s regular-season dominance, with the champions pulling away down the stretch to score an emphatic win.<\/p>\n

James, who had defied his 41 years to lead the Lakers to a surprise 4-2 upset of the Houston Rockets in the first round, led Los Angeles with 27 points and shot 12-for-17 in a losing effort.<\/p>\n

Rui Hachimura added 18 points, with Marcus Smart bagging 12 and Deandre Ayton 10.<\/p>\n

Lakers head coach JJ Redick blamed unforced errors for his team\u2019s problems.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe mistakes hurt us,\u201d Redick said. \u201cYou\u2019re playing the world champs, your margin for error in terms of mistakes is not that high \u2026 just too many tonight. We\u2019ve got to clean that up.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe guys played hard. We just got to do a better job with execution. It comes down to attention to detail.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know we\u2019ll clean things up and be better.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ChetChet Holmgren, centre, led Oklahoma City in points (24) and rebounds (12) [Joshua Gateley\/Getty Images via AFP]Pistons hold off Cavs<\/p>\n

In Tuesday\u2019s other playoff game, Cade Cunningham scored 23 points as the Detroit Pistons held off a second-half rally to beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 111-101 in their NBA Eastern Conference semifinal series opener.<\/p>\n

The top-seeded Pistons looked to be cruising to a comfortable win after dominating in the first half and taking a 17-point lead in the third period.<\/p>\n

But a spirited Cleveland rally saw the Cavaliers close to within four points before Detroit finally pulled clear again in the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n

Cunningham was one of six Detroit players to finish in double figures, with Tobias Harris adding 20 points while Duncan Robinson bagged five three-pointers on his way to a 19-point haul at the Pistons\u2019 Little Caesars Arena.<\/p>\n

Daniss Jenkins added 12 points from the bench, with Ausar Thompson and Jalen Duren scoring 11 points apiece.<\/p>\n

Donovan Mitchell led Cleveland with 23 points, including four three-pointers, while James Harden scored 22 points with eight rebounds and seven assists.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a great team win \u2013 defending the ball, rebounding the ball,\u201d Cunningham told NBC television.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got a great system in place. You\u2019ve got somebody that will come in behind you whenever you get tired.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut it\u2019s one win, we\u2019ve got to come back and do it again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Detroit had battled into the conference semifinals after coming back from 3-1 down to defeat Orlando 4-3 in the first round.<\/p>\n

Cunningham said the Pistons are anxious to avoid a repeat.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt home, you\u2019ve got to protect home court. We didn\u2019t do that in the last series, so we want [to] do that this series,\u201d Cunningham said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey want to come in and steal one, so we\u2019ve got to do this again the day after tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"CadeCade Cunningham, left, led the Pistons with 23 points in their Game 1 victory against the Cavaliers in their NBA Eastern Conference semifinal series [Chris Schwegler\/Getty Images via AFP]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Published On 6 May 20266 May 2026 The Oklahoma City Thunder overpowered the LeBron James-led Los Angeles Lakers…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":727049,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3790],"tags":[7,4034,1698,300,4044,251,150,4033,4043,6,67,275,417,418],"class_list":["post-727048","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles-lakers","tag-basketball","tag-la","tag-la-lakers","tag-lakers","tag-lalakers","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-lakers","tag-losangeles","tag-losangeleslakers","tag-nba","tag-news","tag-sport","tag-united-states","tag-us-canada"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116526841634389759","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/727048","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=727048"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/727048\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/727049"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=727048"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=727048"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=727048"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}