Thunder sweep Pelicans
Oklahoma City sweeps New Orleans 4-0 to advance to the second round of the playoffs.
Can’t spell New Orleans Pelicans without “sweep”.
— Brandon Rahbar (@BrandonRahbar) April 30, 2024
The scrappy Pelicans made closing them out more than a formality, but the Thunder's overwhelming length and intensity did not let up. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams scored 24 apiece, and are off to an encouragingly strong, confident start as a postseason scoring duo. OKC's creators picked on CJ McCollum and Jose Alvarado per usual, but challenged the likes of Herb Jones and Trey Murphy on the drive and at the rim throughout the game as well.
Notably, Gordon Hayward played just four minutes in this one, all in the first quarter, and still managed to lower his shot attempts per game for the series (0.3). IDK.
The Thunder held the Pelicans to under 90 points per game on under 40% shooting for the entire series. All five OKC starters scored in double digits in both Game 4 and on average for the series. Lu Dort sonned Brandon Ingram. I could go on. All the numbers are good. Woofs galore.
We'll have plenty of time to digest this series and preview the next one. Oklahoma City's next opponent will be either the Mavericks or Clippers, teams currently deadlocked at 2-2 in a series that won't conclude until Friday or Sunday.
Jalen Williams with an awesome sequence:
— Kevin O'Connor (@KevinOConnorNBA) April 30, 2024
-Hits a pull-up 3
-Chases CJ McCollum through screens and corrals him
-Helps off-ball and strips Brandon Ingram
-Draws a foul in transition
What an excellent two-way play. pic.twitter.com/ykFoYFP9kh
Per the great @StatsWilliams:
— Tim Bontemps (@TimBontemps) April 30, 2024
To show how dominant Chet Holmgren was in the paint in this series, New Orleans shot 9-for-35 (25.7%) on shots within 5 feet of the basket that were contested by him across the four games, per ESPN’s tracking data.
Mark Daigneault on SGA's ankle: "Just tweaked it. Obviously good enough to go back into the game. He'll need treatment. These next couple days will really help him.
— Brandon Rahbar (@BrandonRahbar) April 30, 2024
Obviously didn't impact his availability in tonight's game, nor should it moving forward."
OKC sweeping tonight… https://t.co/mW74Mbl4fl
Thunder are the youngest team in NBA history to win *any* series. https://t.co/jRwibmK3H8
— Brandon Rahbar (@BrandonRahbar) April 30, 2024
Sorry, Jerry. Thunder fans and players have learned to communicate best with woofs and chainlink finger grazing. You don't have to speak our love language to respect it.
Maybe, hear me out
— Jerry Ramsey (@TVsJerry) April 30, 2024
The Thunder did what they were supposed to do.
Is a visit to the airport really necessary? pic.twitter.com/AFe2cMEZpL
