The Oklahoma City Thunder appeared to be a young squad in their first postseason game together only a few days ago.
They had the appearance of seasoned playoff veterans on Wednesday night.
With 33 points from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the top-seeded Thunder defeated the New Orleans Pelicans 124-92 to grab a 2-0 lead in their Western Conference playoff series in the first round.
Gilgeous-Alexander said the Thunder didn’t worry about other external factors, like other highly seeded teams having home problems, and instead stayed focused.
“It just comes down to us making winning our top priority,” he remarked. “And all of those things are obstacles that stand in the path of success. And as the fifteen of us go to sleep each night, our goal is to win the following game and the following day. And we exert every effort to do so.
The Thunder shot 59% from the field and made 14 of 29 3-pointers. Chet Holmgren led the team with 26 points and seven rebounds, while Jalen Williams chipped in with 21 points.
The Pelicans were led by 19 points from Jonas Valanciunas and 18 apiece from Herb Jones and Brandon Ingram.
The Pelicans outrebounded the Thunder 52–44 in Game 1 thanks to 20 rebounds from Valanciunas, nine of which were offensive. Oklahoma City held the Pelicans to eight offensive boards on Wednesday, outrebounding New Orleans 37–35.
With leading scorer Zion Williamson sidelined due to a strained left hamstring, the Pelicans’ offensive woes persisted. As Oklahoma City’s Lu Dort tormented Ingram all night long in Game 2, the second-best scorer for New Orleans during the regular season only managed 10 shots. In Game 1, Ingram only made five out of seventeen field goals.
Moreover, the Thunder capitalized on 18 mistakes by New Orleans for 22 points.
In New Orleans, Game 3 is this Saturday.
The Pelicans will get better, so the objective now is to keep evolving, learning, and becoming better throughout the series, according to Thunder coach Mark Daigneault. They have strong coaching and are a talented club that is returning home. It will become better for them. We must keep improving since you are aware of this.
After Oklahoma City’s 94-92 victory on Sunday, the game’s tempo increased dramatically. The Thunder, who scored 120.1 points per game on average during the regular season, appeared far more at ease.
According to Daigneault, “I felt like both teams were kind of calibrating in the first game.” Furthermore, we were able to identify their defense strategies and the areas we intended to attack much more quickly tonight, and we were successful in doing so.
In the opening three minutes, Valanciunas scored eleven points, but Holmgren answered with thirteen points in the first seven minutes.
Where Holmgren left off, Gilgeous-Alexander continued. After going nine minutes without scoring, he finished the quarter with seven points to help the Thunder establish a 35–22 lead. In any quarter of a playoff game, Holmgren’s 15 points were the highest scored by a rookie for the Thunder.
Pelicans coach Willie Green stated, “I thought they turned up the pressure offensively.” “The floodgates opened for them when they received some early 3’s.”
At the break, Oklahoma City had a 63-50 lead. Before the half, Holmgren scored twenty points, and Gilgeous-Alexander added sixteen.
At the end of the third quarter, the Thunder’s lead had grown to 92-74. In the fourth quarter, with the Thunder leading 120-86, Gilgeous-Alexander and Holmgren were permanently benched.
Green remarked, “Tough one for us.” “They handled the home court, so give them credit. They triumphed decisively. We’ll thus return home, reorganize, and go after it.
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