The Oklahoma City Thunder dominated Games 2 and 3 of their playoff series against the New Orleans Pelicans.
The No. 1 seed Thunder have a 3-0 lead and will try to sweep the No. 8 Pelicans in Game 4 on Monday night in New Orleans and advance to the Western Conference semifinals.
OKC fell behind 14-12 early in Game 2, then went on a 21-6 run to take control and rolled to a 32-point victory. In Game 3 the Thunder led by just one point with about 4 1/2 minutes left in the second quarter, then scored 15 straight points to take control en route to a 21-point victory.
“Basketball is a game of runs, we know that,” Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander said. “We have seen that all year. We always say it is a 48-minute game and just worry about stacking possessions. We did so. Because of it, we won the last three games.”
Just as OKC has gotten better in the last two games, it also has improved as the series has progressed. The Thunder had to withstand a missed, last-second jumper by New Orleans’ CJ McCollum to win Game 1 by two points, but since then they have outscored the Pelicans 230-177.
Gilgeous-Alexander scored a game-high 24 points in Game 3 but received plenty of help. Jalen Williams and Josh Giddey scored 21 points each. Luguentz Dort scored just 12, but he made three consecutive 3-pointers as the Thunder were taking control in the second quarter.
“With the way we get played, we have to spread the ball to the perimeter, and I thought we did that on all our possessions, some of those in transition, as well,” OKC coach Mark Daigneault said. “I thought we had a really good pace, for the most part, getting the ball to the perimeter. (We) have to continue to look at ways to attack them.”
Dort has made 10 of 18 3-point attempts in the series in addition to his stellar defense against Pelicans forward Brandon Ingram. With leading scorer Zion Williamson sidelined by a hamstring injury, Ingram is New Orleans’ No. 1 scoring option, but he’s averaging just 16.3 points and is shooting 41.5 percent from the floor in the series.
The offensive struggles have involved all of the Pelicans as they are shooting 40.3 percent from the floor and 27.8 percent on 3-pointers for the series.
“I don’t care if I miss 10 in a row,” said Trey Murphy III, who has replaced Williamson in the starting lineup and gone scoreless in the last two fourth quarters. “I know in the back of my head, I’ve had games where I missed a lot, came back and hit five straight.
“It doesn’t really matter for me. I know for my teammates, we’ve just got to continue to shoot the ball.”
New Orleans coach Willie Green had a simple message for his team as it tries to do something no NBA team has ever done — overcome a 3-0 deficit to win a playoff series.
“It’s not over. It’s not over,” he said. “We’ve got another game here at home and we’re going to go over what we need to do and get ready for the next game.”
–Field Level Media
