On April 22, 2024, Beijing time, the first round of the NBA playoffs ushered in the matchup between the Thunder and the Pelicans. The Thunder have a full lineup, and the starters are still Alexander, Giddey, Dort, Jalen Williams and Holmgren.
Defense-oriented, offense-complementary, and both sides are hard to score
In the first quarter of the game, Dort wrapped around Ingram, the Pelicans formed a misalignment, McCollum defended Alexander, and Jones let Holmgren empty and scored three points. Valanciunas hit a strong basket and scored with a hook hand. Both sides started the game with a lot of intensity on the defensive end, and Ingram was very limited in this regard, and he missed any attempted shots. And the Thunder is also relatively fast-paced, and the success rate is not high.
Then Valanciunas scored a basket, McCollum scored a shot, but unfortunately the Pelicans didn't open the outside line, Jones missed three points in a row, and Murphy also hit three points, shooting an incredible step, two three-point no! The Thunder relied on Alexander and Dort to score four points to help the Thunder equalize. The Pelicans drew a foul and scored on Jones' layup. Interestingly, Ingram faced Alexander's two defenses, both of which taught Alexander lessons, the first time he was pulled away to score a mid-range shot, and the second time Alexander used his footwork to continuously change direction to impact the inside, causing Ingram to foul and score 1 point on a free throw. Ingram misses a single shot, converts the attack Dort and throws a three-pointer, and in the next round, Ingram continues to play singles and throws from mid-range. Alexander missed consecutive shots, Alvanado broke through to score, Pelicans continued to play iron with three points, and Alexander converted to a single Jones to complete a layup, and the two sides tied 17-17 at the end of the first quarter.
Varland rebounded on offense, and the Pelicans' three-pointer scored on the Thunder's inside
In the second quarter of the game, Jalen Williams completed a layup, and Willie Green was not good for defense and called a timeout after just one round. McCollum scored from mid-range, Wallace missed a three-point shot, CJ missed a mid-range shot, Valanciunas grabbed an offensive rebound, assisted Murphy to shoot a three-pointer, Holmgren scored a jumper, Alwanado still missed a three-point shot, and let Valanciunas grab an offensive rebound, but CJ still missed a three-pointer. Giddey missed, Murphy missed a layup, Valanciunas grabbed an offensive rebound and assisted Murphy to make a three-point shot, Jalen Williams missed a layup, converted offense CJ made a three-point shot, the Pelicans led by 7 points, and the Thunder did not call a timeout.
Dort, Holmgren and Jalen Williams scored seven points on a basket and immediately returned a 7-0 run. Marshall threw in a three-pointer at the critical moment, Aaron Wiggins returned a shot, and the two sides began to pick up. CJ missed, Marshall scored on a dunk, and Jalen Williams hit a mid-range shot to tie again. Ingram scored four straight points, Jaylin Williams hit a three-pointer, and Alexander drew two free throws to start the game and start the lead alternately, and the two sides tied again at 43-43 at halftime.
The Thunder limited Ingram, and the tactics took effect, and a wave of 11-0 overtook the score
In the second half, Dort took the lead in making a three-point shot, Jalen scored on a single CJ jumper, the Pelicans Valanciunas and Ingram scored four points, and Murphy made a long-range three-pointer, and the Pelicans led the Thunder again. Then Jalen Williams made a three-pointer, Alexander converted to an offensive layup, Holmgren also hit a shot, and the Thunder hit a wave of 7-0 to overtake the score. The Pelicans got busier and more wrong during this period, Alexander made a mid-range shot, Giddey also hit a layup, and the Thunder continued their 11-0 offensive climax.
Then CJ broke through to complete the layup, Murphy scored three points, Alexander broke through and scored a foul free throw, Murphy completed the dunk in the air, Jaylen completed the rebound with self-improvement, Alexander played against Alvanado, and scored easily in the middle of the shot, but fortunately, Murphy broke through and scored a layup. During this time, Ingram was restricted from receiving the ball and would be caught with the ball, so the Pelicans offense could only rely on role players.
It wasn't until after replacing Ingram that the Pelicans' offense improved, with Nance scoring on a layup, Alwanado hitting a three-pointer, CJ bursting to the basket for Nance to score, and the Pelicans returned a 9-0 run. Kenrich broke through to complete a layup, Alexander converted an offensive layup, CJ hit a single toss, Jalen broke through and scored, Alwanado broke through and was blocked by Hayward, converted Seiko Joe scored three points, and the Thunder led the Pelicans 74-68 at the end of the third quarter, Alexander scored 10 points in this quarter, Jalen scored 9 points, and the Pelicans scored 10 points on Murphy.
Valanciunas carried the Pelicans forward, and Murphy CJ rained three points
In the final quarter of the game, the Pelicans made a mistake on the first offense, Holmgren scored under the basket, Valanciunas immediately returned two points, Wiggins scored two plus one against Valanciunas defense, CJ shot or hit iron, Valanciunas grabbed rebounds in a row, made a foul and scored free throws, Holmgren was released at the top of the arc and threw three points, and the Pelicans still looked for Valanciunas to score foul free throws. Holmgren made a mistake, Murphy made a three-point shot, Marshall completed a steal, Murphy missed a long-range three-point shot, Alexander's layup was also interfered with, McCollum converted a three-point shot, and the Pelicans' three-point rain came and directly chased the score to 3 points, stopping the Thunder.
After the timeout, Alexander scored a single in the bottom corner, CJ made a passing error, Alexander didn't have a three-pointer, Ingram continued to hit the iron with three points, and Murphy hit the inside to make a basket! Jaylin Williams made a three-point shot, CJ made a mid-range shot, Nance completed a dunk, and the Pelicans narrowed the score to one more round.
In the final four minutes, Jones finally made a three-pointer, Alexander made a mistake, and Ingram completed a layup to take a two-point lead. After the Thunder timeout, Alexander made another mistake in the first round, Jones fouled on offense, and Alexander missed the shot! The Thunder coach gave the Pelicans a ball instead of a challenge, and the Thunder only had one timeout with 2 minutes and 40 seconds left. Then the two sides hit iron one after another, the Thunder did not score for 5 minutes, Alexander scored a pull-up jumper, the two sides tied again, the Thunder lost defensive rebounds in a row, giving the Pelicans a second chance to attack, Holmgren blocked Nance again, Alexander continued to single two plus one! In the last 32.5 seconds, the Thunder led by three points, CJ scored on a shot, fouled Holmgren, two free throws and one hit, and in the last 14 seconds, McCollum missed three points, and finally the Thunder defeated the Pelicans 94-92, leading the series 1-0.
Full-time player stats
Thunder: Alexander shot 11-of-24 from the field and 0-of-3 from three-point range to finish with 28 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists, Jalen Williams shot 8-of-18 from the field and 1-of-5 from three-point range with 19 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals, Holmgren shot 6-of-14 from the field and 2-of-6 from three-point range to finish with 15 points, 11 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal and 5 blocks, Dort had 6 points and 4 rebounds, Giddey had 2 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists, Aaron Wiggins had 6 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists, and Jaylin had 6 points.
Pelicans: Murphy had 21 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists on 8-of-18 shooting and 5-of-12 three-pointers, CJ McCollum had 20 points, 3 rebounds and 6 assists on 9-of-22 shooting and 2-of-9 three-pointers, Valanciunas had 13 points, 20 rebounds and 2 assists on 5-of-9 shooting, Ingram had 12 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists on 5-of-17 shooting and 0-of-2 three-pointers, Jones had 8 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists, Nance had 8 points and 8 rebounds, Alwanado had 5 points, and Marshall had 5 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists.
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