The Los Angeles Lakers haven't officially punched their ticket to the second round, but no team has ever come back from a 3-0 deficit in the playoffs. The Rockets haven't given anyone a reason to think they will change that, and as surprising a season as the Suns have had, they don't have much of a chance, either. Oklahoma City took care of business in its Game 3 win over Phoenix on Saturday, setting up what will likely be a second-round showdown against LA.
Yes, the Thunder are the defending champions and are even better than last season, but it feels like the Lakers have a real shot at throwing a wrench in OKC's repeat plans.
A lot of that will, of course, depend on whether Luka Dončić will be able to return. The same goes for Austin Reaves, who is listed as questionable for Game 4 on Sunday. Having him return to the lineup before facing the force that is OKC is the preferable outcome.
We are even closer to Lakers vs. Thunder in the second round
Dončić suffered a Grade 2 hamstring strain at the beginning of April and went to Madrid for treatment for a couple of weeks. He returned to Los Angeles last week. Fans were already optimistic about him returning in the second round, but after seeing clips of the superstar guard at practice on Friday, their hopes shot up even more.
The Lakers have handled the Rockets without their top two scorers, but they won't be able to do the same against the Thunder. It doesn't matter as much as it should that OKC is currently without Jalen Williams, who is dealing with another hamstring strain, as they're one of the deepest teams in the league. Sam Presti knows how to spawn guys out of nowhere.
In all seriousness (and that wasn't that much of an exaggeration), this series could be a lot more fun than anyone anticipated. To take it a step further, the Lakers might actually have a good chance to advance to the conference finals.
If healthy (and I can't stress that enough), Los Angeles has the three-man scoring punch that no other team in the league can match, not even OKC. The biggest question will be how the Lakers can contain Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, a task that will occupy a lot of space in JJ Redick's mind, but it's worth noting that Marcus Smart is looking a lot more like the DPOY Marcus Smart.
Los Angeles shouldn't be the easy out that everyone would've assumed if we had known that the Lakers and Thunder would meet in the playoffs. They're not the same team they were in February. If they do make it past OKC, all of a sudden, their path to the NBA Finals won't look impossible anymore.