After finishing the regular season with the franchise’s best record since 2007-08, the New Orleans Pelicans couldn’t garner much more momentum as a vital injury to Zion Williamson crept in to result in a first-round playoff bounce to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Game four of the series took place Monday night at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans with the top-seeded Oklahoma City handling business and capping off the series sweep with a 97-89 victory. Offensively, the Pelicans were no match as the Thunder forced 19 turnovers.
MVP play from SGA
The Oklahoma City offense was led by no other than Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who had 24 points and 10 rebounds. The All-Star was also behind multiple fourth-quarter sequences that resulted in the win, including a pivotal play in which his shot was blocked, and instead of giving up, he raced back down the floor and made a solid defensive rebound to erase the turnover.
What the coach said
It’s the second year in a row the Pelicans have fallen to the Thunder in postseason play with Oklahoma City getting the deal done over Willie Green’s squad in the play-in a year ago. After Monday’s game, Green told reporters he’s proud of how his team battled this season and throughout the opening series.
“I loved our fight and the way we battled tonight,” Green said. “That’s a special group in that locker room, and what I told them is that there’s no other group that we would rather get on that floor and compete with than that group. They poured it out tonight. Unfortunately, we came up short.”
Numbers don’t lie
Leading the Pelicans on the box score was guard C.J. McCollum with 20 points. McCollum and the rest of the team were plagued by poor shooting from beyond the arc, hitting eight out of 34 attempts (23.5%). New Orleans center Jonas Valanciunas had 19 points and 13 rebounds but was limited by foul trouble. Naji Marshall hit half of the team’s threes and finished with 16 points. Along with the 19 turnovers, the Pelicans were outrebounded 46-36.
Injury update
After being ruled out of a play-in win against the Sacramento Kings, star forward Zion Williamson could never overcome a hamstring injury and return to play before elimination. Williamson, who played in a career-high 70 games this year and had a career-best performance of 40 points and 11 rebounds before exiting against the Kings, is expected to make a full recovery during the offseason and be good to go for the 2024-25 season.
The rest of the team, including Brandon Ingram and Jose Alvarado, were able to stay healthy throughout postseason play.
What’s next?
While the Thunder will go on to play the winner of what’s been a back-and-forth series between the Los Angeles Clippers and the Dallas Mavericks, the Pelicans will await next year’s tip-off. In the meantime, the 2024 NBA Draft is set for June 26-27. The league is expected to announce the full schedule in August with the 2024-25 season beginning on Oct. 22.
