Game Recap: Thunder 95, Pelicans 109

The Thunder caught to its recreation plan in opposition to a bodily Pelicans workforce. Nevertheless, a sequence of pricey runs tilted the scales closely in New Orleans’ favor halfway via the sport. OKC continued to combat down the stretch, nevertheless it wouldn’t be sufficient to beat the early deficit.

Physicality was the secret for the Thunder in its third and ultimate matchup with the New Orleans Pelicans on Thursday. With dimension at almost each place, the Thunder appeared to interrupt down the Pels’ protection by attacking the lane and taking part in on the drive and kick. To start out the sport, it was Darius Bazley setting the offensive tone for the Thunder with 10 first-quarter factors from his relentless and fearless pursuit of the basket on almost each possession.

Because the Thunder’s offense slowed, New Orleans took benefit on the opposite finish to the tune of a 20-5 run going into the second body.

OKC responded with a surge of its personal within the second quarter sparked by a pair of 3-pointers from Isaiah Roby who completed along with his second-consecutive double-digit efficiency off the bench with 13 factors. The Thunder additionally obtained contributions from its latest signee Gabriel Deck who made his Thunder debut in opposition to the Pelicans.

In his very first NBA recreation, the 6-foot-6 Argentinian drew the matchup with the imposing Zion Williamson on each ends of the ground. Deck held his floor on the Pelicans’ ahead defensively and on the opposite finish, attacked Williamson head on for a layup that helped spur the Thunder’s second-quarter run and even dazzled spectators with a sneaky behind the again move to Roby for a layup in transition.

EL TORTU @gabriel_deck @roby_isaiah pic.twitter.com/3P3ixMyVu7

— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) April 30, 2023

“That was superior,” mentioned Roby. “I can simply inform from simply the couple of minutes we performed collectively. He’s obtained an excellent really feel for the sport and that behind-the-back move; that was actually candy.”

“He actually is just not a rookie. He’s performed a number of excessive degree basketball and that’s for certain. There’s a studying curve to the NBA,” mentioned Daigneault. “I don’t need to understate this, he’s a man that I believe has all the time dreamed about taking part in within the NBA. I believe that’s why he needed to come back right here and it’s one thing that we don’t take flippantly when a participant is actually realizing a lifelong dream once they put the uniform on.”

Regardless of the surge by the Thunder within the second quarter, the Pelicans strung collectively one other huge run, this time outpacing OKC 23-5 to take commanding management of the sport. It was Williamson who led all scorers with 27 factors and fueled New Orleans’ offense. The Thunder held the Pelicans’ ahead simply 4 factors within the first and one level within the third, however his contributions within the second quarter proved to be definitive because the Thunder struggled to reply offensively.

“I assumed there have been a pair stretches within the recreation the place we simply couldn’t appear to string collectively sufficient performs offensively or defensively,” mentioned Daigneault. “However I assumed for almost all of the sport we obtained the sport plan and in opposition to them and made them play in a crowd and made it troublesome for them to get simple stuff.”

With the sport seemingly out of attain, the Thunder appeared to bolster its identification of sprinting via the end line of every recreation. OKC put this mentality on show within the fourth quarter behind the outburst of Lu Dort who posted 11 factors within the fourth body alone. The second-year guard went 3-of-4 from behind the 3-point line to assist spark a 12-4 Thunder run to shut the sport. By the top of the evening, Dort scored a team-high 17 factors.

“That they had their greatest guys on him for a lot of the evening. So clearly he obtained a few of these pictures to go late however I used to be impressed with sort of how he performed his flooring recreation all through the course of the sport,” mentioned Daigneault. “He let the sport come to him. He wasn’t wrapped up in scoring and he performed a reasonably good recreation. Then clearly down the stretch there, a pair performs might have made it just a little (extra dicey) than we did however he saved us sort of in it with the shot-making.”

Whether or not it’s grabbing a rebound and pushing the ball coast to coast or stretching the ground to knock down a 3, Isaiah Roby’s versatility was on show for a lot of the sport in Thursday’s matchup. With a nimble body at 6-foot-8, the second yr ahead rolls shortly out of ball screens. It was the beginning of the fourth quarter that this tactic resulted in a spotlight play for Roby and Ty Jerome.

After rolling out of the display screen, Jerome shuffled a swift move to a slicing Roby who was extensive open for a one-handed slam. Roby took on contact on the rim which resulted in a monstrous and-one.

“Me and Ty had really talked earlier within the recreation,” defined Roby. “There was one decide and roll we had the place he discovered me within the pocket, and I kicked to Svi [Mykhailiuk] within the nook and he knocked down the three. Then the following time the low man for his or her protection, the nook man, didn’t pull in so I had the rim proper there. In order that was a superb play by Ty discovering me there within the pocket.”

18

The Thunder’s large man Moses Brown had his hand in what gave the impression to be each free ball across the rim. His exercise on the finish of the evening translated right into a game-high 18 rebounds. The efficiency marks the fifth recreation this season that Brown has recorded 15 or extra boards which put him in unique firm as certainly one of solely 5 Thunder gamers in OKC historical past to perform such a feat.

In opposition to the big, bodily presence of New Orleans, Brown defined what it took to match their physicality as a gaggle: “Positively a willingness to compete, a willingness to simply need to get bumped round and really feel our bodies on us, a willingness to need to rebound and simply play laborious.”

Moses Brown turns into solely the fifth participant in Thunder historical past to have 5 or extra 15+ rebound video games in a season. #ULTRAmoment pic.twitter.com/kBUKml1h67

— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) April 30, 2023

“One thing that we need to put on this workforce is a play via 48 minutes. It’s a 48-minute recreation so it doesn’t matter what the rating is, we’ve nonetheless obtained to compete on the highest degree doable that we are able to. I really feel like that’s what we did – we stepped up, scored a pair buckets and we tried to assert the comeback.”
–Théo Maledon

“We made them move to the perimeter, which was the plan. There was simply stretches the place we went just a little dry on offense, they obtained out on the break and that sort of ignited them. However I assumed each ends of the ground, we did a number of good issues tonight. The stretches of runs for them sort of opened the sport up.”

–Coach Daigneault

The Thunder could have day of apply earlier than an action-packed weekend of basketball. After simply 10 days, OKC will host the Pacers in a rematch on Saturday earlier than closing out the weekend with a Sunday night matchup in opposition to Phoenix.