On April 22, Beijing time, the first round of the NBA playoffs G1 ushered in the final round of matchups, with the Thunder, the first in the West, facing the Pelicans, the eighth in the West. The Pelicans beat the Kings in the play-in tournament and caught the final train to the playoffs. However, injuries have been a stumbling block in the Pelicans' playoff journey. In the second half of the regular season, Ingram's injury caused the team's form to fluctuate, and in the play-in matchup with the Lakers, the injury of key player Zion cast a thick shadow over their playoff journey. At present, Zion is likely to miss the first-round series, which undoubtedly poses a huge challenge for the Pelicans. However, the good news is that Ingram, who has returned from injury, performed well against the Kings, scoring 24 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists, and gradually regaining his form, and the Pelicans have the possibility of an upset against the Thunder, the youngest and most inexperienced in the playoffs in the West.
On the other hand, in the final game of the regular season, the Thunder defeated the Mavericks, who were resting by 49 points, ended the season with a wave of five consecutive wins, and successfully stood out in the Western chaos, and finally won the final first place. During the regular season, the Thunder and Pelicans have met three times, of which the Thunder won two away games, showing good strength. Now, facing the Pelicans, who lack Zion, the Thunder have an absolute advantage in this round of matchups. The Thunder are in hot form, with a full core roster, while the Pelicans are missing a big interior scoring point due to Zion's absence. In such a situation, the Thunder occupy the absolute advantage of time, place, and people, and they will definitely seize the opportunity of Zion's absence to win as soon as possible and lay a solid foundation for the road to promotion.
Both teams felt tight in the first quarter, especially the Thunder who fought at home, and the young players in the team were all very nervous and tight in their playoff debuts, but fortunately, the Pelicans' shooting rate was not high, and the two teams scored 17 points in the first quarter. In the second quarter, the offensive state of the two teams improved, but their scoring efficiency was not high, and in terms of tactical execution, it seemed to be disorganized, and the classical score of 43 was tied at halftime. In the first half, Alexander was the only one to score 11 points. In the third quarter, the two teams began to play inseparable, and the Thunder's players gradually adapted to the atmosphere of the game, and the offensive end began to gradually pick up, and at the end of the quarter, the Thunder relied on Jayway's layup and Isaiah Joe's 3-pointer to stretch the difference to 6 points. In the final quarter, Holmgren hit a 3-pointer, Varland frequently hit Holmgren with his tonnage to make kills, Murphy and McCollum each hit 3-pointers, and the Pelicans narrowed the difference. In the final quarter, the two teams played inextricably at the end of the game, and in the last 14 seconds, Holmgren hit one of two free throws, the Thunder led by 2 points, and Ingram failed! The Thunder defeated the Pelicans 94-92!
In this game, the Thunder's Alexander made 11 of 24 shots, got 28 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists, Holmgren got 15 points and 11 rebounds, and Jay Wei got 19 points and 7 rebounds! Seeing the Thunder narrowly beat the Pelicans by 2 points, I am afraid that the Lakers' intestines are repentant, in fact, when the Nuggets lost to the Spurs and the Thunder rose to the first place in the West, the Lakers, who ranked eighth in the West, had the opportunity to choose a playoff opponent. After all, he will go all out to hit the seventh in the West and will face the Nuggets in the first round, and in the last two games, the Nuggets have always been the Lakers' number one enemy, and in the 9 games between the two teams, the Lakers have all lost, mainly because Jokic can completely suppress the thick eyebrows, and Gordon and Porter's height and arm span are all advantageous against the Lakers, and Murray suppresses Russell and Reaves on the guard line, even if it is James, reluctantly in Gordon, the advantage is not obvious.
If the Lakers avoid the Nuggets, deliberately release the Pelicans, let the Pelicans go to play against the Nuggets, the Lakers sit at home in the second round of the play-offs to wait for work, thick eyebrows and James rest for two days, full of energy, and there is no difficulty in defeating the exhausted Warriors, but the Lakers do not dare to take risks, although they get the seventh place in the West as they wish, and advance to the playoffs as the seventh in the West, but they have selected the strongest opponent in the West, a team that has the most championship qualification this season. In the G1 battle, although James and thick eyebrows were full of strength on the offensive end, one cut 27 + 8 + 6, and the other cut 32 + 14 + 5, but the Lakers could only hold out half of the game, and were defeated by the Nuggets in the third quarter. And if the Lakers play against the Thunder, with the performance of James and thick eyebrows, the Lakers can definitely drag the game into garbage time at halftime like the Bucks beat the Pacers.
The average height of the Thunder team is not short, but its players do not have an advantage in strength, physical width, or strength. Despite the tall players at the back and center positions, they are relatively short at the forward positions. In the Thunder's starting lineup, it is obvious that there are multiple guards, Alexander, Jewwill, Dort and Giddey are all guards, among which Dort and Jewwill are arranged in the forward position, which undoubtedly limits the team's forward height.
The Lakers, on the other hand, are a forward-oriented team. In the forward position, there are strong players such as James, Hachimura, Reddish, and Prince, and in the center position, there are thick eyebrows and Hayes, as well as Wood, who is recuperating. In addition, Dinwiddie's height is also quite outstanding. Such a body configuration is definitely enough for Thunder to drink a pot. When the Thunder play against the Lakers, they can only rely on Chet to fight against the thick eyebrows, and Dort or Jaeway to play against James. Obviously, the Thunder are clearly at a disadvantage in terms of size. They can only try to make up for this gap by rotating and helping to defend.
When the Lakers played against the Thunder, Brother Thick Mei was still against Chet, and Hachimura was responsible for guarding Alexander. It is worth mentioning that in the fourth game of the meeting between the two teams, Reaves also played well against Alexander and became a big surprise for the Lakers. In such a size comparison, the Lakers undoubtedly have an absolute advantage in rebounding, interior offense and secondary offense. The Thunder, on the other hand, relied primarily on three-point shooting and fast breaks. Although the Thunder are one of the best teams in the league with a 39.5% three-point shooting percentage, they still can't quite overcome that gap in the face of the Lakers' strong size advantage. Once, the Lakers will face the Thunder in the playoffs, and they will inevitably have an overwhelming advantage. Once the Thunder is eliminated in the first round, and the Clippers and Mavericks are faced in the second round, the Lakers will not be stunned! In the other half of the region, if the Timberwolves kill the Nuggets, then the Lakers will have the power to fight against the Timberwolves. It's a pity that the Lakers picked the wrong opponent!