The Pelicans have only themselves to blame for not stealing Game 1 on the road in their series against the OKC Thunder. It was a very inefficient shooting game from the Pels, as they finished the game making 38% of their shots from the field and just 28% from three. There were some positives to take away as well, as Jonas Valanciunas dominated the boards with 20 rebounds in 29 minutes. That’s a massive advantage for the Pelicans, he just outmuscles Chet Holmgren down low and I don’t really see how OKC counters that. The issues for Game 2 is that I am not sure if New Orleans will get the same wide open quality shots they got on Sunday, because the Thunder defense will certainly make adjustments. The absence of Zion Williamson will show here.
Winning that series opener could turn out to be crucial in this series for Oklahoma City, you can only imagine how a young roster like theirs would feel after a loss in their postseason debut. They didn’t shoot the ball all that well from the perimeter at just 31%, but that’s the big strength of this team. They are more than capable of making up for missed threes by making a shots from the mid-range. Nobody does it as well as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, I’m looking at him to once again lead the charge in Game 2. The rebounding will have to be fixed though, I doubt they’ll win another game if they allow 18 offensive rebounds like they did in Game 1. OKC enters this game on a 6-game win streak, they’ve also covered the spread in 13 of the last 19 meetings with the Pels.
