Cason Wallace's Big Night Helps OKC Thunder Dominate in Game 3

Oklahoma City is a game away from the Western Conference Finals, and one of its young guards put together an impressive Game 3 performance.

On Saturday night, the Thunder beat the Los Angeles Lakers 131-108 for a 3-0 lead in the second round and moved to 7-0 in the postseason. Even with Jalen Williams only able to play two games during the playoffs, the Thunder have stepped up without him and seen plenty of big contributions from their role players.

Among those who made some key contributions on Saturday to take a 3-0 lead was Cason Wallace. A likely All-Defensive selection this season, Wallace was phenomenal in his 24 minutes of action against the Lakers in Game 3.

Like everything else with Wallace, his performance started with some rock solid defense. Wallace finished the night with one steal and played some harassing defense against Austin Reaves and others throughout the contest.

While his defense was par for the course, as he disrupted so much of what Los Angeles wanted to do, he also had his best offensive game of the playoffs. Wallace nailed four 3-pointers on his way to a 16-point night off the bench.

Looking confident all night when he let it fly, Wallace’s 3-point shooting was key in helping the Thunder build and extend their lead. Luckily for the Thunder, it appears that Wallace may be getting into a rhythm on that end at the perfect time.

Wallace’s 16-point outing marked the third time in the past four games he’s hit the double-digit scoring threshold. After being a streaky shooter throughout the regular season, Wallace might be hitting a groove from beyond the arc, having nailed multiple threes in four of his last five contests, shooting 52.4% from deep in that span.

One of the most important pieces of Wallace’s game on Saturday was when he made those threes. While the Thunder were already looking sharp in the first quarter, Wallace’s three hits from deep in the opening frame helped set the tone for the rest of the night.

With the Lakers not as willing to help off Wallace after the hot start, he was able to help open things up for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Ajay Mitchell and the rest of the Thunder offense. While Wallace’s defensive abilities will be enough to keep him on the floor no matter what, getting outputs like this from him offensively can help the Thunder reach another level, which could easily result in 23-point playoff wins like Game 3.

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