{"id":786417,"date":"2026-05-10T11:26:32","date_gmt":"2026-05-10T11:26:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/786417\/"},"modified":"2026-05-10T11:26:32","modified_gmt":"2026-05-10T11:26:32","slug":"lakers-deandre-ayton-disappearing-against-thunder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/786417\/","title":{"rendered":"Lakers’ Deandre Ayton disappearing against Thunder"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

One rebound got away. Another went to the Oklahoma City Thunder on a foul by Deandre Ayton<\/a>. When a third opportunity glanced past Ayton\u2019s nonchalantly extended arm, JJ Redick<\/a> had seen enough.<\/p>\n

The Lakers<\/a> coach couldn\u2019t even sub fast enough before Ayton\u2019s two-handed frustration shove of Oklahoma City guard Ajay Mitchell put a disappointing punctuation mark on a disastrous 19-second stretch for the Lakers starting center.<\/p>\n

Ayton, a key part of the Lakers\u2019 first-round series win, has been largely absent in the Western Conference semifinals against the Oklahoma City Thunder. With the Lakers behind 3-0 in the best-of-seven series after Saturday\u2019s 131-108 loss<\/a> at Crypto.com Arena, Ayton has averaged 7.7 points per game and 9.3 rebounds against the Thunder.<\/p>\n

Desperate to avoid the dreaded 3-0 hole, Ayton was limited to 10 points and six rebounds and just one defensive board. He was held to one-of-seven shooting in Game 2<\/a> for just three points, although he had 22 rebounds over the first two games.<\/p>\n

After an up-and-down regular season, it appeared that the former No. 1 overall pick was ready to live up to the hype. He was a quiet star in the Lakers\u2019 first-round series win against the Houston Rockets, often guarding All-Star Alperen Sengun<\/a> one-on-one and dominating the paint. He averaged 11 points and 10.8 rebounds against the Rockets<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Oklahoma City coach Mark Daigneault took note. He called Ayton a \u201cpriority\u201d for the Thunder defense in this series. Redick said Ayton raises the Lakers\u2019 ceiling more than any other player.<\/p>\n

The Lakers tried to spark their X-factor in the third quarter. They built a two-point halftime lead off the stellar shot-making of Rui Hachimura<\/a> (21 points) and Luke Kennard<\/a> (18 points) but funneled the ball toward Ayton after the break.<\/p>\n

\"Lakers <\/p>\n

Lakers center Deandre Ayton dunks against the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 3 of the Western Conference semifinals Saturday at Crypto.com Arena.<\/p>\n

(Robert Gauthier \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

Hachimura, who made all four of his three-point attempts in the first half, had a chance at a three on the Lakers\u2019 first possession but instead passed to Ayton, who was fouled on the floor. Marcus Smart tried a lob to Ayton, but the center couldn\u2019t corral the pass. The Lakers went back to him on each of the next two offensive possessions and he scored on both.<\/p>\n

He scored six of his 10 points during a three-and-a-half-minute stretch of the third quarter.<\/p>\n

\u201cDA is a hell of a player,\u201d said Smart, one of Ayton\u2019s closest teammates. \u201cWe all know it. We just want to get him the touches and get him the feel early, just to give them a different look. … All the guards are doing their thing. So we\u2019re just trying to get the big fella involved.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ayton\u2019s signature soft touch around the basket has suddenly escaped him. After shooting 60.4% from the field during the first round and a career-best 67.1% during the regular season, Ayton is shooting 39.3% (11 for 28) against the Thunder. He made just three of 11 shots in the restricted area during the first two games.<\/p>\n

The Lakers needed Ayton to thrive during this series against the double-big lineup of Chet Holmgren<\/a> and Isaiah Hartenstein<\/a>. Some of Ayton\u2019s shooting struggles have depended on where the lanky 7-foot-1 Holmgren has been on the court, Redick said. The Lakers have tried to draw Holmgren out of the paint more to free up Ayton.<\/p>\n

Holmgren has still been a force in this series with 21.3 points and 10 rebounds per game. Hartenstein has made 14 of 16 shots from the field in the three games.<\/p>\n

Ayton\u2019s backup Jaxson Hayes was also neutralized in Saturday\u2019s blowout, not returning to the game after just eight minutes and 30 seconds of mostly ineffective play. When Redick had seen enough from Ayton in the fourth quarter after he gave up two offensive rebounds and fouled twice in 19 seconds, the coach opted for rookie Adou Thiero.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

Thiero, a 22-year-old who tries to make up for his lack of experience with pure motor and athleticism, had a team-high eight rebounds with four points in 13 minutes and 12 seconds. <\/p>\n

But the Lakers gave up an offensive rebound off a free throw immediately after Thiero replaced Ayton. Hayes, sitting at the end of the bench with his arms folded across his chest, stared blankly ahead and shook his head slowly.<\/p>\n

No NBA team has ever come back from a 3-0 deficit in a best-of-seven playoff series. Ayton has been quiet in this series, but he doesn\u2019t plan to be silenced much longer with the season on the line.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe ain\u2019t gonna give up,\u201d Ayton said on his way out of the arena. \u201cWe will be back to fight on Monday.\u201d<\/p>\n

Staff writer Broderick Turner contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One rebound got away. Another went to the Oklahoma City Thunder on a foul by Deandre Ayton. When…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":786418,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5123],"tags":[44234,17378,310863,3757,1582,276,2385,52369,1910,314980,3136,19176,2961,8604,5615,224,5337,4158,2452,314981],"class_list":["post-786417","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-april","tag-austin-reaves","tag-best-of-seven-series","tag-blowout-win","tag-ca","tag-california","tag-day","tag-doncic","tag-game","tag-game-time-decision-wednesday","tag-houston-rockets","tag-injury","tag-la","tag-lakers","tag-lead","tag-los-angeles","tag-losangeles","tag-return","tag-week","tag-western-conference-semifinal"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116550040819365341","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/786417","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=786417"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/786417\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/786418"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=786417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=786417"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=786417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}