The Thunder defeated the Pelicans 94-92 to give them a 1-0 overall lead. The Thunder, who are first in the West, and the Pelicans, who are eighth, still do not have the remnants of Zion, but the Thunder almost overturned. I have to say that the hard power of the Thunder is almost meaningless. Despite having a new version of Alexander, Jewi and Holmgren's Thunder trio, they are all too young. The last time Alexander played in the playoffs was when he teamed up with Paul in '20, and the Thunder haven't made the playoffs for several years.
The Thunder were really lucky to win today, first with Ingram shooting 5-of-17 from the field, and then McCollum missed a key three-pointer. But whenever Ingram feels better, the Thunder will have to be carried away. The Thunder also exposed a lot of flaws, and their interior line was too poor. Chet is still a child, although he plays tough but is skinny, and Varland is very dominant on the Nets' interior. That's why the Thunder and Pelicans struggled.
From the beginning of the first quarter, the Pelicans gave the Thunder intensity, Varland grabbed rebounds under the basket, dunked, McCollum scored a jumper, and the Thunder responded with Alexander. At the end of the first quarter, the two sides were tied 17-17. In the second quarter, Murphy and McCollum continued to face off against Jayway and Alexander, and the two sides were still tied at 43-43 at halftime. In the second half, the Thunder came up to play an 11-0 wave, but the Pelicans also responded quickly, Murphy and McCollum continued to fire, the Pelicans once overtook the Thunder, and the Thunder responded with a wave of 9-2 at the end of the quarter, and the Thunder led by 6 points at 74-68 in the third quarter.
In the last quarter, the Pelicans overtook a wave of 9-1, and the Thunder had been cornered, but fortunately, Alexander dominated the game at the critical moment, he jumped to tie the game, and hit 2+1 to help the Thunder lead by 3 points. Although McCollum chased 1 point with a jumper and Holmgren gave a chance with 1 of 2 key free throws, God was still on the side of the Thunder, McCollum hit a three-point shot, and time ran out. Looking at the data all over the court, you can see that outside the Pelicans' side of Ingram's slump, McCollum scored 20 points, Wallan scored 13 points and grabbed 20 rebounds, and Murphy scored 21 points.
On the Thunder's side, Holmgren had 15 points, 11 rebounds and 5 blocks, Jayway had 19 points and 7 boards, and Alexander had 28 points and 6 boards. The Thunder need to be glad that they didn't meet the Lakers in the first round, otherwise the Thunder wouldn't be able to hold their home court today. That is, the Pelicans do not have the strong point of the fat tiger, if there is a fat tiger, a Varan dominates the rebound, and a fat tiger can chisel through the Thunder basket. After watching today's game, many Lakers fans will regret that it would be good if the team played the Thunder in the first round, because it really can't win against the Nuggets.
The Lakers made three kills against the Thunder this season, but were swept by the Nuggets. In other words, the Lakers' style of play is to restrain the Thunder, because the Lakers have two points that the Thunder cannot solve, one is the dominance of thick eyebrows under the basket, and the other is the existence of James. The Nuggets have Jokic and thick eyebrows on the inside, and Jokic has the upper hand. The Nuggets also have a forward like Gordon to scare the aging James, while the Thunder can't match the Lakers. In other words, the core Zhan Mei is better than Alexander and Holmgren, and if the Lakers play the Thunder in the first round, they are really very hopeful.
This Thunder team is really not strong, whether it is the Clippers or the Mavericks entering the second round, the Thunder cannot win these two teams. It is estimated that the Clippers and Mavericks will lock up the Western Conference Finals through the first round. But the Lakers can't help it, the regular season ranking is too poor. The Lakers didn't dare to deliberately lose to the Pelicans and then compete with the Kings for an eighth ticket, because if they overturned, they wouldn't even make the playoffs. Of course, the Lakers don't want to touch the Nuggets, but all this is fate, a moment of silence for the Lakers, they have worked hard enough in the first game, but the Nuggets are a mountain for the Lakers that is insurmountable.