Oklahoma City Thunder forward Jalen Williams was on his hands and knees after taking a hard shot to the eye on the opening possession of a pivotal playoff game.

By the third quarter, Williams was draining a pair of 3-pointers during a 9-0 run that had the New Orleans Pelicans reeling.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 24 points, Williams and Josh Giddey each had 21 and the Thunder beat the Pelicans 106-85 on Saturday to take a 3-0 lead in their first-round playoff series.

“Dub’s very talented,” Gilgeous-Alexander said of Williams, who has averaged about 20 points in the series and scored 13 of his Game 3 points in the second half. “He was clearly big tonight, very impressive and nothing we’re not used to.”

The top-seeded Thunder entered the playoffs answering a lot of questions about the relative youth and inexperience on its roster — and that appeared justified after a two -point escape at home in Game 1 against the eighth-seeded Pelicans.

Since then, the Thunder have posted victory margins of 32 in Game 2 and 21 in Game 3, in no small part because of a relentless defensive effort that has kept the Pelicans to 92 or fewer points in all three games of the series.

Oklahoma City hit 17 of 36 (47.2%) from 3-point range and held a lead of 10 points or more throughout the second half, going up by as many as 24 in the fourth quarter. By then, a contingent of Thunder fans could be heard chanting, “OKC! OKC!” as New Orleans fans filed out.

The Pelicans, who’ve been without star forward Zion Williamson during the series because of his hamstring injury, will try to avoid elimination at home in Game 4 on Monday night.

“It’s not over,” Pelicans coach Willie Green said of his message to the team.

History is not on their side. No team in NBA history has come back from a 3-0 series deficit.

Brandon Ingram scored 19 points and CJ McCollum had 16 for New Orleans, which struggled to hit from the perimeter and to take care of the ball.

The game began ominously for the Thunder when Williams took a forearm to the face from Ingram while attempting a driving floater and fell to his hands and knees.

No foul was called on the collision, which sent Williams to the locker room for much of the first quarter before he checked back in late in the period.

Celtics 104, Heat 84 >> Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown each scored 22 points, and the Boston Celtics soundly beat the Miami Heat 104-84 on Saturday night to a take a 2-1 lead in their Eastern Conference first-round playoff series.

Tatum added 10 rebounds and six assists for the Celtics, who led Game 3 wire-to-wire and reclaimed the home-court edge that they lost when Miami won Game 2 in Boston. Kristaps Porzingis had 18 points and Derrick White scored 16 for the Celtics, who used runs of 12-3, 11-0 and 20-8 in the first half to take full control.

Bam Adebayo scored 20 points for eighth-seeded Miami, which remains without starters Jimmy Butler and Terry Rozier because of injuries. Nikola Jovic and Tyler Herro each scored 15 for the Heat, who got 12 from Jaime Jaquez Jr.

Game 4 is Monday in Miami, where the Celtics are 9-2 in their last 11 games and 6-1 in their last seven playoff games.

It was a season low in points scored for Miami, a season low in points allowed for Boston.

Bounce-back efforts have been a trend for Boston this season. The Celtics — the No. 1 overall seed in the playoffs — don’t lose often, and when they do, they tend to just come out and win their next one. Boston is now 15-4 in the game immediately following a loss this season, its average victory margin in those games 12.2 points.

Magic 112, Cavaliers 89 >> By the time Franz Wagner finished outscoring Cleveland by himself in the third quarter, what had been a competitive game turned into another rout in this series between the Orlando Magic and Cavaliers.

Wagner had 34 points and 13 rebounds, and the Magic held the Cavaliers scoreless for a second-half stretch of almost seven minutes, cruising to a 112-89 victory Saturday that tied the Eastern Conference first-round series at 2-2.

After putting up 60 points in the first half, Cleveland was outscored 37-10 in the third quarter and managed only 29 points in the second half.

Asked if he had ever seen a more dominant defensive quarter, Magic coach Jamahl Mosley said: “I’d have to look that one up.”

Wagner had 10 points in the first five minutes of the third quarter and finished with 12 in the period, when the Cavaliers missed 14 of their 18 shots.

Game 4 of the series will be Tuesday night in Cleveland, where the No. 4-seeded Cavaliers won the first two by double digits before getting blown out twice in Florida.

Isaac (14 points, seven rebounds, two blocks) and Markelle Fultz (12 points, four rebounds) gave the Magic major help off the bench. Paolo Banchero, who had 35 points in Orlando’s 121-83 win in Game 3 on Thursday night, finished with nine points and five assists in his first single-digit scoring game since Nov. 29.

Jarrett Allen had 21 points and nine rebounds for the Cavaliers. Donovan Mitchell had 18 points, all in the first half.

Lakers 119, Nuggets 108 >> LeBron James scored 30 points and Los Angeles held on to beat Denver 119-108 on Saturday, avoiding a sweep at the hands of the defending champions.

Anthony Davis had 25 points and 23 rebounds for the Lakers, who also got 21 points each from D’Angelo Russell and Austin Reaves.

Nikola Jokic had a triple-double with 33 points, 14 rebounds and 14 assists for Denver, who will try to close out the Lakers on Monday in Denver.

Michael Porter Jr. had 27 points and 11 rebounds. Jamal Murray chipped in 22 points for the Nuggets.

Los Angeles snapped an 11-game losing streak to Denver.