{"id":27738,"date":"2026-05-12T15:46:23","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T15:46:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/27738\/"},"modified":"2026-05-12T15:46:23","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T15:46:23","slug":"lakers-eliminated-by-thunder-after-crushing-game-4-loss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/27738\/","title":{"rendered":"Lakers eliminated by Thunder after crushing Game 4 loss"},"content":{"rendered":"

Before the Lakers successfully ended their first round playoff series<\/a> against the Rockets, coach JJ Redick explained<\/a> what makes close out games so challenging.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to kill them,\u201d Redick said. \u201cIt\u2019s difficult to kill someone. Survival instincts say, \u2018I want to stay alive.\u2019 So, you got to be able to kill them. That\u2019s what [it takes].\u201d<\/p>\n

The Lakers\u2019 sense of urgency in Monday\u2019s Game 4 against the Thunder at Crypto.com Arena, with their season on the line, showed exactly why that\u2019s the case.<\/p>\n

LeBron James reacts during the Lakers\u2019 May 11 loss to the Thunder in Game 4. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n

But in the end, the Thunder killed the Lakers\u2019 2025-26 season, with the Lakers falling to the Thunder, 115-110, in Game 4 to be eliminated from the playoffs.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the season ends there\u2019s always a whirlwind of emotions,\u201d Redick said. \u201cI am certainly feeling a sense of gratitude for our players, the Lakers, and our fan base. You\u2019ve seen these 3-0 games before; I thought there were two different times during the game where our team could have gave in or let go of the rope. We didn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

Each fourth-quarter bucket from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Ajay Mitchell were deep gashes into the Lakers\u2019 chest.<\/p>\n

The Lakers kept responding, not letting anything take away from their fight, getting big plays from everyone on the floor late.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But there were too many daggers to recover from.<\/p>\n

The Lakers didn\u2019t score in the final 30 seconds. And the Thunder got dunks from Chet Holmgren and pairs of free throws from Gilgeous-Alexander and Mitchell to close out Game 4.<\/p>\n

Austin Reaves (27 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists), Rui Hachimura (25 points), LeBron James (24 points, 12 rebounds) and Jaxson Hayes (18 points, 5 rebounds) all came up big late.<\/p>\n

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander drives to the basket during the Thunder\u2019s Game 4 win against the Lakers on May 11. Getty Images<\/p>\n

But the Thunder still delivered. And were simply better for the entire series.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re really f\u2014\u2013g good,\u201d Reaves said.<\/p>\n

Gilgeous-Alexander led the Thunder with 35 points and eight assists.<\/p>\n

Mitchell added 28 points on 12-of-19 shooting, while Holmgren added 16 points and nine rebounds.<\/p>\n

What it means<\/p>\n

The Lakers\u2019 season ended with a four-game sweep to the defending champions \u2014 just the fourth time in James\u2019 career his team has been swept in the playoffs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The other times: 2007 NBA Finals against the Spurs, 2018 Finals against the Warriors and the 2023 Western Conference finals to the Nuggets.<\/p>\n

The Thunder will face either the Spurs or Timberwolves in the Western Conference finals.<\/p>\n

Turning point\u00a0<\/p>\n

When Jared McCain hit a 3-pointer to cut the Lakers\u2019 lead from 89-84 to three with 8:24 left in the fourth.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It provided a screeching halt to the Lakers\u2019 momentum that they carried over from the third quarter, which they won 39-31.<\/p>\n

MVP: Gilgeous-Alexander<\/p>\n

The reigning league MVP saved his best game for the end of the series.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander looks to move the ball during the Thunder\u2019s Game 4 win against the Lakers on May 11. Getty Images<\/p>\n

Gilgeous-Alexander shot 11-for-22 from the field and 12-for-15 on free throws. <\/p>\n

He and Mitchell combined for 19 of the Thunder\u2019s 35 points in the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n

Stat of the game: 19<\/p>\n

Taking care of the ball was an emphasis entering the series.<\/p>\n

The Lakers once again failed to do that, turning the ball over 19 times.\u00a0Reaves had a team-worst eight turnovers, while Marcus Smart had six. <\/p>\n

The Thunder scored 22 points off of the Lakers\u2019 giveaways.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Up next<\/p>\n

Exit interviews for the Lakers, with Redick and president of basketball operations Rob Pelinka speaking with reporters on Tuesday morning. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Before the Lakers successfully ended their first round playoff series against the Rockets, coach JJ Redick explained what…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27739,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[8,3038,7023,2733,10601,10991,9,6855,16962,1199,7],"class_list":{"0":"post-27738","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-top-stories","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-lebron-james","10":"tag-los-angeles-lakers","11":"tag-nba","12":"tag-nba-playoffs","13":"tag-nba-playoffs-2026","14":"tag-news","15":"tag-oklahoma-city-thunder","16":"tag-shai-gilgeous-alexander","17":"tag-sports","18":"tag-top-stories"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@news\/116562387523749081","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27738","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27738"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27738\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27739"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27738"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27738"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27738"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}