On April 25, Beijing time, the first round of the NBA playoffs continued, and the Thunder, the No. 1 team in the West, hosted the Pelicans. The game seems to have lost suspense from the first quarter, the Thunder under the leadership of Alexander and Holmgren, a single quarter of 35-22, the first quarter to expand the advantage to 13 points, and in the third quarter, the Thunder continued to exert power, the difference has been close to 20 points, in the fourth quarter, the Pelicans collapsed, the difference came to more than 30 points, the game lost suspense in advance. In the end, the Thunder defeated the Pelicans 124-92, holding two consecutive home courts and leading the Pelicans 2-0.
The Thunder's Alexander scored 33 points, 3 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 steals, and once again played an MVP-level performance, he is now certainly a top 10 star in the league, Holmgren got 26 points, 7 rebounds, 1 assist and 2 blocks, shooting 9 of 13, 3 of 6 three-pointers, and 5 of 6 free throws. Jalen Williams had 21 points, 5 rebounds and 7 assists, Dort had 15 points, 1 rebound, 2 assists and 1 steal, and Keady had 13 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists. For the Pelicans, Ingram had 18 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists, Valanciunas had 19 points and 7 rebounds, Jones had 18 points and 2 rebounds, and McCollum had 15 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists.
In this way, another group of 2-0 appeared in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs, the Thunder 2-0 Pelicans, the Nuggets 2-0 Lakers, the Timberwolves 2-0 Suns, and the top 3 in the West are not in suspense to reach the semifinals. The Clippers and the Mavericks are tied 1-1, but the Clippers are the team that is more likely to advance, Leonard has not played his best, and the Mavericks can only rely on Doncic and Irving, which is the biggest difference. Looking at the playoff landscape in the West, the top 4 teams are all likely to advance.
During the playoffs, the NBA regular season award process has also begun, and in the competition for the best rookie, Wembanyama of the Spurs, Holmgren of the Thunder and Miller of the Hornets have become candidates, but in the eyes of the outside world, Wembanyama has no suspense to win the best rookie. There are two main reasons, first, the NBA league sees Wembanyama as the face of the future NBA, and while staying healthy, he is almost booked in the all-time top 10. Second, Wembanyama's stats are also outstanding, averaging 21.4 points, 10.6 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 3.6 rebounds per game, shooting 47% from the field and 33% from three-point range.
Wembanyama is indeed very good and has more potential than Holmgren, but if you look at the team's results and individual performances, Holmgren deserves the award. The 22-year-old averaged 16.5 points, 7.9 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 2.3 blocks per game in his first season of his career, shooting 53 percent from the field and 37 percent from three-point range.
In terms of record, the Thunder are in first place in the West with 57 wins and 25 losses, and the Spurs are in second to last in the West with 22 wins and 60 losses, which is a stark contrast. The Rookie of the Year selection is the same as MVP, it should not only look at the data and ignore the results, it cannot be said that Holmgren is better than Wembanyama, but combined with the record and personal performance, he is the one who deserves more awards, and besides, even if Wembanyama and Holmgren are swapped, Wembanyama may not be able to help the Thunder win the Western Conference championship in the regular season. Wembanyama's deterrent power on the defensive end is indeed great, but he can cut 20+ on the offensive end, mainly because there are too many shots, and the Spurs are playing around him, so the data will naturally look good.