On April 25, Beijing time, the NBA playoffs continued, and in the games that had ended, 7 groups of confrontations between the East and West were played, and 4 groups were 2-0, with the Nuggets leading the Lakers, the Timberwolves leading the Suns, the Cavaliers leading the Magic, and the Knicks leading the 76ers. The three groups are tied 1-1, the series between the Clippers and the Mavericks, Leonard's return to adapt to the game will have a process; the Bucks are purely weak, and the Pacers have the home court advantage, and the most unexpected is naturally the Celtics, facing the Heat without Butler, losing at home, and paying the price for their arrogance! The Thunder hosted the Pelicans, which was the last game of G2 in the first round of the playoffs. Zion himself made it clear in an interview that the injury is not serious and that he hopes to return to the team this season!
Zion will have a review as soon as early May, but it is unknown if the Pelicans will be able to hold out until then. The two teams met for the first time 2 days ago, the Pelicans lost to the Thunder by 2 points, and the Pelicans definitely had a chance, but when it came to the critical moment, the lack of scoring points was really a pity! Data modeling calculations, the Thunder has an 80% probability of advancing to the second round. The Lakers media complained about the unfairness of the play-offs, believing that if there was no play-offs, the Lakers would have met the Thunder in the first round without any pressure, but now they were led 2-0 by the Nuggets due to the play-in mechanism and almost lost the possibility of qualifying. Back to this game, the Thunder starts: Alexander + Keady + Dort + Jay + Holmgren, and the Pelicans start: McCollum + Herbert Jones + Ingram + Murphy + Wallan.
At the beginning of the game, Varland wreaked havoc under the Thunder's basket, scoring 9 points in a row! Holmgren continued to kill after hitting a three-pointer, Varland hit a layup, Dort's three-pointer and Keady's counterattack layup, leading the Thunder to overtake the Pelicans. In the middle of the period, Holmgren and Dort continued to rain three-pointers, Ingram and Nance singled sporadically, Alexander scored seven points in a row at the end of the quarter, and Isaiah Joe also hit a three-pointer, and the first quarter ended, and the Thunder led the Pelicans 35-22. The Pelicans made too many mistakes of their own, while the Thunder could really shoot and keep speeding up. At the beginning of the second quarter, Holmgren dunked, Dort and McCollum exchanged three-pointers, Keady and Wiggins took turns to hit layups in the middle of the game, and Wallan supported the Pelicans' offense.
In the middle of the period, the Pelicans relied on Jones and McCollum to chase a single-digit point difference, and Jawell stood up again to play consecutive singles, coupled with the three-point rain of Isaiah Joe and Alexander, and instantly opened a 16-point difference! At the end of the quarter, Murphy's three-pointer stopped the bleeding, and the Thunder led the Pelicans 63-50 at halftime, Holmgren scored 20 points, Alexander scored 16 points, Varland scored 15 points, and McCollum scored 9 points. Back in the third quarter, Alexander began to impact the basket to make kills, and Ingram singled the match, and the margin remained around 15 points. In the middle of the period, Alexander hit a three-pointer + Jayway singled, leading the Pelicans by as many as 22 points, Jones and Ingram chased after each other, but the Thunder relied on free throws to stop the bleeding continuously. At the end of the quarter, Alexander hit the board again with a difficult throw, and after three quarters, the Thunder led the Pelicans 92-74.
In the fourth quarter of the decisive battle, Holmgren made an easy layup + Jayway made a three-point shot at the top of the arc and ate the cake in the air, and the Thunder opened a 23-point difference. In the middle of the game, Keady and Jewway took turns to make layups, Wallace threw it easily, and Alexander also reached a daily 31 points, and the game was out of suspense by this point. After that, the Pelicans replaced the main force and surrendered, and the final score was 124-92 Pelicans for the Thunder, a 32-point victory, and a 2-0 lead in the series.
Pelicans stats, McCollum 15 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists, Valanciunas 19 points and 7 rebounds, Herbert Jones 18 points and 2 rebounds, Ingram 18 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists, Marshall 10 points, Murphy 8 points and 5 rebounds. Thunder statistics, Alexander 33 points, 3 rebounds and 5 assists, Holmgren 26 points and 7 rebounds, Jay 21 points, 5 rebounds and 7 assists, Keady 13 points and 6 rebounds, Dort 15 points.
To tell the truth, if the Pelicans have Zion, they still have the strength to fight with the Thunder, Ingram may be affected by injuries and has been in mediocre form since his comeback, and McCollum is not a star who can raise the ceiling, the Pelicans lack scoring points as a whole, Varan is too big after all, and the efficiency decreases after physical exertion, and the Pelicans are boiled frogs in warm water while playing. And Holmgren and Alexander, after their playoff debut experience in the last game, are obviously playing more aggressively today, daring to shoot, and the Pelicans have no chance of turning the tables, and this round of the series may be completely out of suspense.