The first round of the NBA playoffs is still underway. The least suspenseful matchup in the West, I must vote for the Pelicans vs. Thunder series. The Pelicans were unlucky enough to be on their side, as Zion Williams did his best in Game 1 of the play-offs, only to suffer a calf strain. He had a chance to beat the Lakers, but he fell short, lost and injured himself. Fortunately, the second round played the king, and the opponent was even more out of shape, and the Pelicans seized the opportunity to get the last ticket to the West.
The Oklahoma City Thunder is naturally a better option than playing the Nuggets. As the defending champions, the Nuggets have almost no shortcomings to speak of, and although the Thunder are fierce, they lack playoff experience and are still a rookie. However, the energy that erupted from the thunder was far beyond the pelican's imagination. The Pelicans' strongest battle was still G1 and the Thunder until the last minute. After G2 and G3, the Pelicans all failed miserably, and they did not score more than 100 points, which is very inconsistent with the Pelicans, who are the eleventh in offensive efficiency in the regular season.
G4, the two sides are fighting back and forth. But the Thunder have a lot of offensive points, and the Pelicans can only rely on CJ and Valan to chase points. In this game, the performance of Alexander and Jay in the final moments helped the Thunder stabilize the lead. Then, Jayway's free throws did not miss, and finally won the Pelicans 97-89, and finally swept the latter with a big score of 4-0.
However, the Pelicans have made progress. Their strategy was to lock Alexander up. In fact, their tactics have been successful. In this game, Alexander was 8 of 21, including 1 of 4 three-pointers, and only scored 24 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 blocks. One is that the Pelicans put a lot of pressure on their defense, causing their offense to be frustrated. Second, he suffered an ankle sprain in the first half, which had an impact. But when it comes to scoring at critical moments, Alexander is not ambiguous at all, and he blocks twice on the defensive end, which is an example for the whole team.
But the Thunder weren't invulnerable, although it was a 4-0 win over the Pelicans. But G1 and G4 both fought to the last minute, you must know that the Pelicans team has a lot of problems, first of all, injury problems, Fat Tiger's injury has greatly weakened the overall strength of this team. Secondly, Ingram has not found his form in any of the games since returning from injury. But even so, they still almost lost the battle, and if the Thunder faced other strong teams, they would have to say two things.
Among them, the third and fourth positions do not have a suitable striker. In fact, the Thunder thought about this issue before the trade deadline, and they made a 5-for-1 trade for it. There are two main purposes, the first is to strengthen the front, especially for Jayway, if you play the Clippers or the Mavericks, someone must be able to play on the top. Secondly, bringing in a veteran can enrich the playoff experience and also serve as a mentor to the players.
Thunder management has set its sights on Gordon Hayward. First, he has the height, the projection, and the ability to attack with the ball. Second, he is also a veteran of the alliance, and he can set an example for the recruits. The Thunder sent Mann, Micic, Bertans and two second-round picks for this, thinking it would be a good deal, but it was lost to Grandma's family.
Before coming to the Thunder, Hayward averaged 14.5 points, 4.7 rebounds, 4.6 assists and 1.1 steals per game. But after coming, he only had 5.2 points, 2.5 rebounds and 1.6 assists. In the playoffs, he played 9 minutes and scored 0 points. You know, Hayward's annual salary this season is as high as $31.5 million.