If the Oklahoma City Thunder make the Play-In tournament, this game will likely be viewed back on as the turning point of the season.
The Thunder entered Saturday’s contest against the New Orleans Pelicans with some of the highest stakes of the season:
Entering the game, the Thunder trailed the 10th-seeded Pelicans by one game in the standings. A Thunder win means they leapfrog the Pelicans in the standings while a Thunder loss would’ve meant the Pelicans grew a two-game cushion.
With 16 games remaining, the Thunder and Pelicans both desperately needed this game to hold onto their playoff aspirations.
The injury-plagued Pelicans — missing Zion Williamson, Brandon Ingram and Jose Alvarado — couldn’t capture a critical game as the Thunder came away with a 110-96 win.
“We had gotten off to slow starts against this team, they’ve outscored us by 26 points in first quarters,” Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault said. “Tonight, I thought we did a great job at executing on both ends of the floor.”
The Thunder used a strong first half to build a 63-44 lead over the Pelicans following the first two quarters. Trailing by as many as 21 points, the Pelicans made it interesting in the second half — cutting OKC’s lead to as little as nine points — but the Thunder answered every threat.
The young trio of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams and Josh Giddey combined to score 71 of OKC’s 110 points — nearly two-thirds of its points.
“We held them off with sound execution on both ends of the floor,” Daigneault said.
The Thunder played a stifling brand of defense against a Pelicans squad missing their two best players. The Thunder forced 22 turnovers against the Pelicans, which gave them a 23-8 scoring advantage in that department.
“We kinda controlled the game on that end of the floor and kept them out of transition. It was big,” Daigneault said on the turnover disparity.
Another huge disparity came from the free-throw line, where the Thunder went 27-of-32 (84.4%) while the Pelicans went just 16-of-19 (84.2%). Gilgeous-Alexander led the way with 13 attempts — shooting nearly the same amount as the Pelicans.
The Thunder also enjoyed scoring advantages in the paint (48-36) and in the fastbreak (18-10).
Throughout the game, the Pelicans looked lethargic on offense. The Thunder did an excellent job playing the game on their terms. Even though it took the Pelicans missing their two best scorers for the Thunder to finally beat them, that won’t matter in the standings.
The Pelicans were led by CJ McCollum, who scored 26 points on 8-of-20 shooting. Starting in place of Ingram, Naji Marshall added 15 points and eight rebounds. Trey Murphy III also scored 15 points on 5-of-12 shooting.
The Thunder really needed to win this game if they wanted to keep their playoff hopes alive and that’s exactly what they did against a Pelicans squad whose season is unraveling due to injuries.
“We did a good job of not taking our foot off and playing through the finish line,” Giddey said. “… Credit to the guys, it would’ve been easy to kinda get comfortable and let the Pels back in the game. We kept our foot down and closed the game out.”
Let’s take a look at Thunder player grades.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander: A+
It was evident that Shai Gilgeous-Alexander didn’t want this matchup against the Pelicans to end in a loss like the first three meetings from this season.
Knowing he’s likely sitting on the second game of this back-to-back, Gilgeous-Alexander started off with a bang as he scored 14 points on 5-of-6 shooting in the first quarter. By half, Gilgeous-Alexander had 23 points on 7-of-10 shooting.
Overall, Gilgeous-Alexander had 35 points on 11-of-23 shooting, six assists and four steals in 37 minutes. Gilgeous-Alexander scored a healthy portion of his points from the free-throw line, where he shot a perfect 13-of-13.
Herb Jones had no answer to defending Gilgeous-Alexander’s methodologically slow scoring game — which has not always happened in their previous matchups together.
This was a great outing by your best player in a critical game.
SHAI EXPLODES TO THE RIM FOR THE DAGGER 😳@okcthunder | #ThunderUp pic.twitter.com/RR5IxXRrUS
— Bally Sports Oklahoma (@BallySportsOK) March 12, 2023
"Because i’m BACK like I never left" -Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
HIMOTHY.@okcthunder | #ThunderUp pic.twitter.com/3Okibiz3lk
— Bally Sports Oklahoma (@BallySportsOK) March 12, 2023
Anticipation at its best! pic.twitter.com/fH69PEIHbb
— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) March 12, 2023
How??? pic.twitter.com/pafq7vNUyj
— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) March 12, 2023
— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) March 12, 2023
Jalen Williams: A
After missing the last two games due to a wrist sprain, Jalen Williams made up for lost time as he turned in a high-efficient scoring night.
In 37 minutes, Williams finished with 17 points on 7-of-10 shooting, four rebounds, three steals and one halftime buzzer beater.
Williams had a busy night inside of the paint, where he went 6-of-8 shooting with a variety of assisted and unassisted shots.
“I thought he had great juice. Chose his spots offensively. Did a great job defensively and on the glass,” Daigneault said about Williams’ return. “… He’s just a really playable player.”
There's no way Jalen Williams is a rookie…WHAT. A. MOVE.@okcthunder | #ThunderUp pic.twitter.com/46G56lNy95
— Bally Sports Oklahoma (@BallySportsOK) March 12, 2023
JALEN WILLIAMS BEATS THE BUZZER 🚨@okcthunder | #ThunderUp pic.twitter.com/0YfoQtcvGi
— Bally Sports Oklahoma (@BallySportsOK) March 12, 2023
Smooth change of pace! 😌 pic.twitter.com/jAJo0ME6eX
— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) March 12, 2023
Josh Giddey: A
The other third of the impressive young Thunder trio that headlined this win was Josh Giddey.
In 33 minutes, Giddey finished with 19 points on 8-of-12 shooting, seven rebounds and four assists.
Making sure the Pelicans don’t make a late run and pull a comeback win, Giddey did most of his scoring in the fourth quarter, where he finished with nine points on 4-of-5 shooting.
Giddey went 6-of-10 inside of the paint and — to put it bluntly — should’ve received more trips to the free-throw line outside of the four attempts he took. Alas, the referees decided to let the game play on and that resulted in Giddey missing on a few crucial layups.
Still though, Giddey played great in a game the Thunder really needed.
Jaylin Williams: B+
Playing just 19 minutes, Jaylin Williams turned Jonas Valanciunas into a non-factor as he played a mere 16 minutes.
Williams did a phenomenal job at limiting the large 6-foot-11, 265-pound center. Valanciunas finished with 13 points on 4-of-6 shooting and four rebounds.
An impressive defensive performance considering how undersized the 6-foot-9, 240-pound Williams is in this matchup.
“I thought he did a great job on Valanciunas. I thought everything Valanciunas got was earned. He was really physical with him,” Daigneault said. “… He kinda forced them into playing away Valanciunas down the stretch, which allowed us to go small.”
On the other side, Williams screamed out a couple of ‘booms’ as he finished with nine points on 3-of-5 shooting, which included a 2-of-3 night from 3.
J-Will hits from behind the arc! 🔥
There's a new option to watch the Thunder. Learn More: https://t.co/YioxgSU4nH@okcthunder | #ThunderUp pic.twitter.com/01LdDCGtqc
— Bally Sports Oklahoma (@BallySportsOK) March 12, 2023
