Oklahoma City Thunder vs. New Orleans Pelicans Play-In Preview

The Oklahoma City Thunder and the New Orleans Pelicans will wrap up the first batch of Play-In games as the 9 vs. 10 seeds looking to extend their season for at least another game. The winner of the game at the Smoothie King Center will face the loser of the Timberwolves vs. Lakers game for the eighth seed in the Western Conference.

Both of these teams are loaded with young talent, and will be forces to be reckoned with in the very near future. Last year the Pelicans made the Play-In and beat the Spurs and then the Clippers to get to the first round of the playoffs before they lost to the top seeded Phoenix Suns. The Thunder missed the postseason and were one of the worst teams in the league, but this year has been a different story, and now they are looking to write a new chapter in the history of the franchise.

Tides turning in OKC

The Oklahoma City Thunder have been laying in the tall grass waiting to make their move after drafting top talent over the last few years. Years of futility followed the departures of the Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and James Harden, but the Thunder are once again knocking on the door of relevancy in the Western Conference.

OKC’s season got off to a bumpy start after the Thunder lost their first three games, and were as many as seven games under .500 before Christmas, but Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Josh Giddey righted the ship and started playing some of their best basketball of the season before the All-Star break.

They were still in the pack of teams that were in the hunt for postseason basketball, and if things had gone a bit different to start the month of April, they could have been in contention for a direct playoff spot, but three straight losses put them in danger of missing the Play-In entirely. They closed the campaign out with a huge win over the Utah Jazz in a battle of direct rivals for the final spot in the Top 10 in the West and finished off the season with a win over the 2 seed Grizzlies to secure their spot in the 9 vs. 10 match up as the 10 seed.

Pelicans surviving without Zion

The Pelicans are another team that is looking to put the pieces of the puzzle together and become an actual contender in the Western Conference. Unfortunately, the biggest and most important piece of that puzzle has been plagued with injury issues since his introduction in the league.

Zion Williamson could be and has shown glimpses of being one of the brightest stars in the NBA, but the phenom with a body that this league has never seen before can’t seem to stay healthy for more than a few months at a time. He missed all of last season due to a foot injury, and came back this year but only played in 29 of the 82 games this season and it’s still not certain if the former Dukie will be ready to play in the playoffs should the Pelicans make it that far.

New Orleans was 10 games over .500 to start the new calendar year and looking like one of the most dangerous teams in the league, but Williamson went down with an injury and the Pelicans began to plummet. They lost 10 in a row after losing Zion, and immediately dropped to under .500. They steadied the ship in large part to Brandon Ingram who has been at an All-Star level since before the All-Star break and were in the mix to get a direct playoff spot until the very end of the season. They finished the regular season winning four of their final six games to ensure a second straight trip to the Play-In Tournament, and now they are seeking back-to-back trips to the playoffs.

Tale of the tape

The Pelicans are dead middle of the pack when it comes to scoring, at 115.8 ppg which is tied with the Conference leading Denver Nuggets, and their defense is with in the top ten in the league but that hasn’t always translated into wins for coach Willie Green’s side.

Zion Williamson was the top scorer for the Pelicans in the opening third of the season at 26 ppg, but since he has been sidelined, it’s been Brandon Ingram and CJ McCollum picking up the slack for New Orleans. Ingram is averaging 24.7 ppg and looks like he is on the verge of becoming a superstar despite battling his own injury issues and CJ McCollum is a knock down shooter posting 20.9 a game.

It’s no secret, and the Thunder don’t try to hide who their offense runs through. Fifth year super star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is having a career year with the Thunder, averaging 31.4 points which is good enough for fourth in the NBA. He had OKC scoring the fifth most points in the league at 117.5 a night, but their defense has been their weak point allowing 116.4 points a game which puts them at 19th in the NBA. Josh Giddey has looks like he is catching stride in his first complete season, averaging 16.6 points 8 rebounds and 6.2 assists on the season.

Head-to-Head

The Thunder and the Pelicans have played against each other four times this season. New Orleans won the first three of those games, the first two of which were with Zion Williamson. Two of those three games were played in OKC, but the Thunder got the best of the Pelicans last month in New Orleans which could give them hope coming into the must win situation on Wednesday night.