Oklahoma City, OK – The Thunder welcome the New Orleans Pelicans to Paycom Center for the first playoff game in Oklahoma City since 2019. The Thunder crowd was something a lot of fans have talked about especially in the playoffs and they showed up and showed out for game 1.
A lot of people picked the Thunder to win this series in five or four games but even if they do win in that many it won’t be easy. The Pelicans aren’t your typical eight seed. First, they finished the regular season as the seven seed but lost their first Play In game to the Lakers and had to play for the eighth spot. Second, they technically won 50 games this season when you count the Play In game they won.
Pace is going to be very important in this series as the Pelicans like to slow it down and get into their half court offense while the Thunder like to get out and run.
Early on, it was the Thunder who controlled the pace of the game beating the Pelicans defense up the floor. They couldn’t really convert though. They missed quite a few easy looks and it looked like they needed to settle down a little. The opening quarter wasn’t all bad though.
The Thunder played excellent defense. Being very active in the passing lanes and brought the physicality needed to slow the Pelicans down. They held the Pelicans to only 17 points on 7-23 (30.4%) from the floor and 1-8 (12.5%) from three.
They did settle down a little in the second quarter though they continued to missed shots they normally hit. The offense did open up a little more but it was pretty much the same for both teams. A lot of missed open looks.
It was tied at 43 going into the half and the team that started to hit their looks would take full control of this game.
That team was the Thunder. The Pelicans did hit more shots but the Thunder defense was still very active and with the shot making the had in the third quarter, they were able to get a couple of cushions to put some distance between them and the Pelicans taking a six point lead into the 4th quarter.
The Thunder built a ten point lead in the fourth but the Pelicans are a tough team and fought back. The game went back and forth for about the last 5 minutes of the game. It got a little sloppy with both teams turning it over a few times down the stretch but the Thunder have a MVP and that was enough for them.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander hit an and-one jumper to put the Thunder up by 3 with 32.5 seconds left in the game and that was the shot that won them the game. They still had to hit free throws to close it out and the Pelicans had a chance to win or tie the game on the last possession but they also have all world defenders around their MVP candidate.
Cason Wallace played great defense on CJ McCollum to get a stop at the buzzer and help the Thunder get a 94-92 win to take a 1-0 series lead.
Here are the reasons for the Thunder victory:
Defense
The Thunder offense struggled for most of the night but their defense was there for the whole game. They were very active in the passing lanes, were physical and when the Pelicans tried to be more physical they adjusted to it. They didn’t give the Pelicans many easy looks.
Probably the most important thing for the Thunder is they didn’t switch on defense as much as they normally do. Particularly on Brandon Ingram and CJ McCollum. Those two guys do a great job of getting switches and using those switches to get to their spots. The Thunder didn’t allow that to happen much in game 1. Have to give a lot of credit to Lu Dort, Jalen Williams, and Cason Wallace.
All three guys did a great job of fighting very hard over screen and not letting them get comfortable looks. BI and CJ combined for 14-39 in game 1. When you can pretty much take a team’s best two players out of their rhythm of the game it makes things a little bit easier. They’re going to need the same effort for the rest of the series.
Little Things
My high school basketball coach would always preach that in order to win games, you have to be big in the little things. That get amplified in high stakes games like the playoffs. The Thunder were very good in the little things. Minus the offensive rebounds.
All night they were fighting for 50/50 balls, fighting through screens, diving on the floor. All of the little things they were great in. One of the biggest examples of that on the night was the turnovers. The Thunder would more than likely not like to have 13 turnovers but, for one, they won the turnover battle by one and two, given how physical the game was, they could have easily had more.
In a physical game that was won by two points, it was very important to protect the ball as much as possible. That one more turnover the Pelicans had could be a big reason why they lost the game. It is going to be very important to protect the ball as much as possible throughout this whole series.
The Thunder were led by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander who had a game high 28 points, 6 rebounds, and 4 assists. Jalen Williams had a solid first playoff game with 19 points, 7 rebounds, and 4 assists while Chet Holmgren also had a solid first playoff game with 15 points, 11 rebounds, and 5 blocks.
Game 2 of this series will be Wednesday night back in the Paycom Center.
