The Thunder take on the Pelicans
Returning to the playoffs after three years, and being the No. 1 team in the West, the young Oklahoma City Thunder completed a rebuild, ending the Thunder's memories of three youngsters. It can be said that today's Thunder team may still have shortcomings in roster talent, but they are definitely one of the top teams in the league. Alexander has an inexplicable individual singles, Jalen and Holmgren are both future All-Star players, Keady and Dort have their own roles, and the team's talent is truly visible to the naked eye.
In the first round of the playoffs, the Thunder also faced a young team, that is, the New Orleans Pelicans. The Pelicans' talent was just as good, but the team's star Zion suffered an injury in the play-in tournament, which gave them one less big killer against the Thunder, but they lost by just two points in the first game of the series.
The game loses suspense early
At the beginning of the first quarter, Holmgren shot 5 of 5 and 3 of 3 from three-point range, with 15 points, 2 rebounds and 1 assist, and Alexander shot 3 of 6 with 7 points and 1 assist, the team scored 35 points in a single quarter, while the Pelicans only scored 22 points, Varland scored 11 points and 2 rebounds on 5 of 7 shots, and Jones scored 5 points and 1 assist. After returning from the game in the second quarter, the Thunder's offense was still excellent, Alexander scored 9 points, 1 rebound and 1 assist, Holmgren scored 5 points and 1 rebound, and the team scored 28 points in a single quarter.
The Pelicans withstood the pressure, Murphy scored 8 points on 3-of-3 shooting, McCollum scored 9 points, 1 rebound and 2 assists on 4-of-6 shooting, and the team also scored 28 points in a single quarter, and at the end of the half, the Thunder led the Pelicans by 13 points 63-50. In the second half, Alexander scored 12 points on 4-of-5 shooting, Jalen also had 6 points, 2 rebounds and 1 assist, and the team scored 29 points in a single quarter, Ingram stepped up and scored 12 points, 1 rebound and 1 assist on 3-of-6 shooting, Jones hit 2 three-pointers, but the Pelicans scored only 24 points as a team, and the Thunder extended the lead to 18 points.
In the final quarter of the game, the Thunder did not give the Pelicans any chance, Jalen scored 9 points on 4-of-6 shooting, Keady also had 7 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists, and the team only took half a quarter to stretch the lead to about 30 points. With the final whistle, the Oklahoma City Thunder defeated the New Orleans Pelicans 124-92 by 32 points, leading the series 2-0.
The first in the west is too incomprehensible
The Thunder once again showed the strength of the first place in the West, and if there is still suspense in the first game of the series, then after this game, people will realize that the Black Eight is basically impossible. Alexander made 13-of-19 shooting, including 3-of-5 three-pointers, and finished with 33 points, 3 rebounds and 5 assists. Holmgren shot 9-of-13 from the field and 3-of-6 from three-point range to have 26 points, 7 rebounds and 1 assist, while Jalen Williams had 21 points, 5 rebounds and 7 assists, Dort had 15 points, 1 rebound and 2 assists, and Keady had 13 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists.
The Pelicans also had 5 players score double-doubles, but Vallan, who scored the most, had 19 points, 7 rebounds and 2 assists on 8-of-14 shooting, and Ingram had 18 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists on 5-of-10 shooting. Jones had 18 points, 2 rebounds and 1 assist on 6-of-9 shooting, McCollum had 15 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists, and Marshall on the bench also had 10 points and 2 rebounds, and the team's three-point shooting was only 7-of-26, while the Thunder's three-point shooting was 14-of-29.