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Thunder vs Lakers Game 4: live score updates, highlights, 2026 NBA playoffs 2nd round series
Thunder vs Lakers Game 4: live score updates, highlights, 2026 NBA playoffs 2nd round series originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
The Lakers find themselves in ‘no-man’s land’ heading into Game 4. The Thunder‘s average margin of victory in the first three games has been +19.
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The bitter truth is that this Lakers team is not built for nor are they as successful when the game goes through Lebron James first. Without Luka Doncic in the mix, the distribution of offense is off balance.
Luka Doncic has been ruled out for Game 4 due to his hamstring injury. That injury has kept him out of the lineup since April 8.
The larger concern for Game 4 comes from the OKC side of this tale of the tape. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has not needed to be in MVP form to beat the Lakes by almost 20 points per game. SGA is only averaging 21/5/3 in this series and none of the three games played thus far have been necessarily ‘close’.
The Lakers can win a game in this series, provided Lebron and Reaves provide volume production. However, unless something significant changes, it doesn’t seem likely Los Angeles will push this to a six or seven game series.
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Thunder vs. Lakers live updates, highlights from NBA playoffs Game 4
3rd Quarter- 6:14 Rui Hachimura hits a 3-pointer to cut OKC’s lead 66-58.
3rd Quarter- 7:35: Thunder up 12 after Cason Wallace triple. Lakers timeout.
3rd Quarter- 8:09: Teams trading buckets. OKC up nine, 63-54.
Halftime: Thunder 49, Lakers 45
2nd Quarter- 1:36: Lakers cut the lead to four. 44-40.
2nd Quarter- 4:00: Teams trading buckets with OKC still up by ten. 42-32.
2nd Quarter- 5:29: Lakers first points of the quarter cuts six and a half scoreless drought. 38-28 lead.
2nd Quarter- 6:01: OKC 17-0 run. Lakers scoreless in the quarter. 38-26 lead.
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2nd Quarter- 6:12: OKC up by 10. 36-26. A 15-0 run for the Thunder.
2nd Quarter- 7:19: Jared McCain 3-pointer has OKC on 13-0 run. Lakers scoreless in first five minutes of the quarter.
2nd Quarter- 9:50: OKC up by 5 with 10-0 run. 31-26 with timeout on the floor.
2nd Quarter- 10:54: Thunder up 29-26 after 8-0 run to open the quarter. Two 3-pointer from Alex Caruso.
End of 1st Quarter: Lakers 26, Thunder 21
1st Quarter- 18.3: Lakers up by 5 over Thunder, 26-21.
1st Quarter- 1:50: Lakers increase lead 22-19
1st Quarter- 3:25: TV timeout. 17-16 Lakers up.
1st Quarter- 4:53: Lakers on 9-0 run, take 17-14 lead over Thunder.
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1st Quarter- 6:29: Austin Reaves nails 3-pointer, cuts lead to 14-11.
1st Quarter- 6:42: TV timeout. OKC up 14-8.
1st Quarter- 7:34: Lakers trading buckets with the Thunder. OKC up 12-8.
1st Quarter- 9:01: Thunder increase the lead to 7-4.
1st Quarter- 10:32: OKC jumps out to a 5-2 lead.
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