Heaven Help Us, The Thunder Have Yet Another Dude

With the score tied halfway through the fourth quarter of Monday night's Game 4 between the Oklahoma City Thunder and Los Angeles Lakers, OKC's Ajay Mitchell sized up Marcus Smart in the left corner. The shot clock was rapidly draining and his teammates were all watched over closely, so it was up to the Belgian sophomore to cook the former Defensive Player of the Year. Mitchell gleefully obliged, crossing over so smoothly he sent Smart tumbling onto the hardwood, then crossing back over and leaping over Smart's prone body to finish in the lane. With their eventual 115-110 win, the Thunder survived the first close game they've had to play in these playoffs, and completed their second sweep in as many series. The Lakers lost the series by a total of 64 points, yet played about as well as could be expected of a misshapen team whose best player missed the entire series with a hamstring injury, second-best player was contending with an oblique injury, and third-best player is 41 years old. They kept it close through three quarters in most every game and, most impressively of all, held presumptive MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to a relatively unproductive quartet of games.

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Heaven Help Us, The Thunder Have Yet Another Dude