Should the OKC Thunder be Worried About Their Recent First-Half Performances?

Oklahoma City has trailed at the break in its last two contests and has relied on second-half surges.

May 9, 2026; Los Angeles, California, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (2) is defended by Los Angeles Lakers forward Adou Thiero (1) in the second half of game three of the second round of the 2026 NBA Playoffs at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images | Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

Oklahoma City must start hot from the get-go.

The Oklahoma City Thunder are having the best postseason possible so far, as they have yet to lose a game in the playoffs. This play continued on Saturday night with the Thunder beating the Lakers 131-108, to take a 3-0 lead in the second round. 

OKC has been able to take control of every game they have played in, but sometimes that control comes later than the Thunder would like. In the past two games, the Thunder have been trailing whenever the team has gone into the locker room for halftime. Although this hasn’t caused Oklahoma City to drop a game yet, is there a possibility that it could in the future?

Now, the two instances where OKC have been trailing at the break have not been major issues, as the Lakers were only leading by one point in Game 2 and two points in Game 3. However, this has presented both pros and cons for the remainder of the Thunder’s postseason. 

For one, it has shown that the Thunder are able to come out in the second half and flip games completely on their head. In Game 3, Oklahoma City outscored the Lakers 74-49 in the second half to take home the commanding win. Game 2 was the same story, with OKC coming out of the break and outscoring L.A. by 14 in the third quarter. 

The Thunder are scoring an average of 30.7 points in the third quarter this postseason, which leads the league. This helps bring their second-half average to 59 points, which is dominating, but brings an issue when looking at the bigger picture. 

This second-half average in the postseason ranks second in the league, unfortunately, second to a team the Thunder might end up facing in the next round. The San Antonio Spurs lead the postseason in second-half points, with 59.5 on average. While this isn’t a major difference, the Thunder’s track record against San Antonio makes every disadvantage a big one. If both the Thunder and Spurs are able to hold onto the series leads they have, they will end up facing off in the Western Conference Finals. 

This means that the Thunder can’t afford to only turn it on in the second half down the road. Of course, Oklahoma City doesn’t plan on this, as they have mustered up commanding leads in the first half of many games this postseason. However, they must make sure this current trend they are on doesn’t continue.