Tag Archives: Zion Williamson

Western Conference Play-In Preview

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Last season, the play-in tournament had huge significance for the Oklahoma City Thunder because they were in it. The 40-42 Thunder went into the play-in as the 10th seed, facing the New Orleans Pelicans in the 9/10 match-up. The good guys won a close game, 123-118, as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Josh Giddey, and Lu Dort combined to score 90 points. Next up, they faced the loser of the 7/8 match-up, the Minnesota Timberwolves. The size of Minnesota overwhelmed the Thunder and they bowed out of the tournament after a 120-95 loss.

Fast forward nearly a year later, and the play-in tournament this season still has huge significance for the Thunder…but for different reasons. Instead of being participants, the Thunder are now at the top of the West, waiting to see who they will face in the first round. Here’s a look at the two play-in games and how the teams in them match-up against themselves.

Game 1 (7/8 match-up) – Los Angeles Lakers vs. New Orleans Pelicans

  • When: Tuesday, 16 April 2024 at 6:30pm CST
  • Where: Smoothie King Center, New Orleans, LA

Season Series: Lakers won the season series 3-1

  • Dec. 7th – 133-89 (Los Angeles)
  • Dec. 31st – 129-109 (New Orleans)
  • Feb. 9th – 139-122 (Los Angeles)
  • Apr. 14th – 124-118 (Los Angeles)

The Set-Up

It may not seem like it, but this match-up has been brewing for a while now. If you remember back to the In-Season Tournament semi-finals in December, LeBron James and the Lakers completely embarrassed Zion Williamson and the New Orleans Pelicans. The reactions after this game were peak “does Zion even care?” and “does Zion want to play in New Orleans?”. Since that game, though, Williamson has taken it upon himself to get into better shape and to add more wrinkles to his game (point Zion). The Pelicans put together a good run in the second half of the season, but fell apart a little at the end due to Brandon Ingram’s injury. Ingram returned for the season finale against the Lakers, but the Pelicans lost and they plummeted to the 7th seed behind Phoenix.

Game 2 (9/10 match-up) – Golden State Warriors vs. Sacramento Kings

  • When: Tuesday, 16 April 2024 at 9:00pm CST
  • Where: Golden 1 Center, Sacramento, CA

Season Series: Series tied 2-2, but Sacramento won the tie-breaker due to a better division record

  • Oct. 27th – 122-114 (Golden State)
  • Nov. 1st – 102-101 (Golden State)
  • Nov. 28th – 124-123 (Sacramento)
  • Jan. 25th – 134-133 (Sacramento)

The Set-Up

The NBA has to be salivating with these West play-in games. Not only did the Warriors and Kings match-up in one of the more memorable series in last season’s playoffs, but they’ve also had 3 consecutive meetings this year decided by one point. This game is literally “win or go home”. Does this game put the final nail in the Warriors’ coffin? Or does Sacramento go into an offseason with a plethora of questions after seemingly being on the path to contention? Whatever the result, it definitely makes for must-see TV. You can bet the Thunder will be watching.

Thunder @ New Orleans Pelicans preview (Game 71 of 82)

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  • Oklahoma City Thunder (49-21, 2nd in the West) @ New Orleans Pelicans (44-27, 4th in the West)
  • When: Tuesday, 26 March 2024 at 7:00pm CST
  • Where: Smoothie King Center, New Orleans, LA
  • Offensive Rating – NO: 117.0 (10th) / OKC: 118.6 (5th)
  • Defensive Rating – NO: 111.4 (6th) / OKC: 111.4 (5th)
  • Net Rating – NO: 5.6 (4th) / OKC: 7.3 (2nd)

The Set-Up

For months, the big four in the Western Conference has been the Thunder, the Nuggets, the Timberwolves, and the Clippers. It was almost a forgone conclusion that those would be the top-4 seeds in the West. But lo and behold, a challenger has arisen from the Gulf Coast. For much of the first half of the season, New Orleans’ season was viewed as a disappointment. Injuries to key contributors like Trey Murphy III and Jose Alvarado had sapped a lot of the depth the Pelicans had. Zion Williamson was once again fighting the battle of the bulge…and losing. The turning point in the season for Zion (and for the Pelicans) was an embarrassing 133-89 loss to the Lakers in the In-Season Tournament semifinals that saw Zion get outscored, outworked, and outclassed by LeBron James.

Since then, New Orleans has gone 32-16 and Zion has reworked his game and his body to become his most optimal self. Williamson is noticeably slimmer than he was earlier in the season and his game has transformed itself into more of a point-Zion trajectory. He handles the ball more off boards and is second on the team in assists per game. The lost weight has allowed Zion to look more like Duke Zion and has made him a force to be reckoned with anytime he is remotely close to the basket.

This is the third and final meeting of the season between these two teams. On November 1st, Oklahoma City squandered an early 22-point lead in the first game to end up on the losing end of things, 106-110. The Thunder returned the favor in late January, handling the Pelicans easily in New Orleans, 107-83.

Magic Numbers

  • To lock up the 10th seed (play-in guaranteed) – 0 (Locked In)
  • To lock up the 6th seed (playoffs guaranteed) – 5

Betting Info

  • Line: OKC -1.5
  • O/U: 223.5

Injury Report

OKC

  • None

NO

  • Dyson Daniels (knee) – OUT
  • Brandon Ingram (knee) – OUT

Three Keys Things

  1. Rebounding – I know, I know. The Thunder have gotten better at rebounding in the 2nd half of the season. And, yes, the Thunder have slowly proven that if they can beat you at nearly every other aspect of the game, the rebounding becomes a moot point. But against a team like New Orleans, those 2nd chance points can tilt the game in their favor. The Pelicans are a top-10 team in 2nd chance scoring and the Thunder, of course, are still one of the worst rebounding teams in the league. Jonas Valanciunas has always terrorized the Thunder on the boards and tonight should be no different. It’s making sure that the Pelicans don’t make the Thunder pay on those 2nd chance opportunities.
  2. SGA – Ever since the MVP discussion has gotten louder, SGA’s game has, unfortunately, petered off. Be it fatigue, wear & tear, injury, how teams are defending him, or all of the above, SGA just doesn’t feel like he has the same gear as he did pre-ASB. Hopefully it’s just a slump and he can work himself out of it. Many people forget that Jokic went through an early season slump that had many asking if he was out of shape from the celebratory off-season. Every player goes through periods like this. It just so happens that it’s louder for SGA because of where we’re at in the season.
  3. Prime-time Match-Up – Despite New Orleans’ slow start to the season, they’ve been one of the best teams in the league over the past 2 months. And the Thunder have been about as consistent as they come. As we head into the playoffs, these are the types of match-ups that can serve as “canaries in the coal mine” to see where the Thunder are mentally heading into their first postseason as a collective.

Thunder @ New Orleans Pelicans preview (Game 45 of 82)

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  • Oklahoma City Thunder (31-13, 2nd in the West) @ New Orleans Pelicans (26-18, 6th in the West)
  • When: Friday, 26 January 2024 at 7:00pm CST
  • Where: Smoothie King Center, New Orleans, LA
  • Offensive Rating – NO: 117.9 (8th) / OKC: 119.9 (4th)
  • Defensive Rating – NO: 112.7 (8th) / OKC: 111.6 (4th)
  • Net Rating – NO: 5.2 (7th) / OKC: 8.3 (2nd)

The Set-Up

If you follow me on Twitter at all, you know the disdain I have for Bally Sports. Their parent company, Sinclair, bought Fox Sports after the Disney merger for an exorbitant amount and then thought that they could bully the various cable networks and streaming services into paying a high dollar amount to show sports on their various platforms. It blew up in their face and eventually they filed for bankruptcy. But my issue is that watching games on the TV allowed many Oklahomans to fall in love with the first iteration of the Thunder. Not everyone can afford to go to games. Not everyone lives close to OKC. So the TV was their way to connect with the team.

In sports, generations are measured in 3-5 year bursts. Take a snapshot of your team now and see how it looks in 3-5 years. More than likely, it is completely different. Because of all the Bally-caused blackouts, there are a lot of people in Oklahoma, of all ages, that haven’t been able to “grow” with this new iteration of the Thunder since the rebuild started. To me, I’ll always have a sore spot for Bally for preventing a “generation” of fans from not being able to connect with this team from it’s inception.

But fast forward to the news that has been coming out over the last couple of weeks. First, Bally Sports is belly-up and only covering regional sports for the rest of this season. Secondly, Amazon seems to be making a play to somehow show the games on their platform (that is still being worked out). And, thirdly, the team, itself, came to an agreement with Bally to show all the rest of the Friday games on local cable TV throughout the state (and neighboring states). Tonight is the first game for that arrangement. The Friday games will only be shown on local TV. They will not be shown on Bally. For information regarding what channels will be showing these games, please visit: https://www.nba.com/thunder/watchlocal

This is the 2nd of three meetings this season between these two teams. The Pelicans won the first meeting early in the season, 110-106.

Betting Info

  • Line: NO -1.5
  • O/U: 239.5

Injury Report

OKC

  • Olivier Sarr (hip) – OUT

NO

  • Zion Williamson (foot) – Questionable

Three Big Things

  1. Combating Size – The New Orleans Pelicans are a big team. Their front court rotation of Jonas Valanciunas, Zion Williamson, Cody Zeller, and Larry Nance Jr. are all big and beefy and their wings (Brandon Ingram, Herbert Jones, and Trey Murphy III) would all be power forwards if this was the 90’s. The Thunder struggled with New Orleans’ size as the game wore on the last time they played. It’ll be interesting to see how the Thunder will combat that. They may need to use the blueprint that was used against the Minnesota Timberwolves the last couple times the team has played them. Also, this is Chet’s second time playing against Valanciunas and Chet usually does a good job of adjusting once he has a scouting report on someone.
  2. Defending the 3-point line – When you think of the Pelicans, you think of Zion’s inside prowess and Ingram’s mid-range game. But what makes New Orleans dangerous is their 3-point shooting. On the season, the Pels are shooting 38.6% from the 3-point line, which is 4th best in the league. While 3-pointers don’t account for a huge part of their offense, if they are hitting them, it makes them almost unguardable.
  3. Jalen Williams – SGA will be preoccupied a lot of the evening with Jones and Murphy. While SGA does okay against the Pels, it’s usually an inefficient night by his standards. This may be a game where Jalen Williams can go to work against a 2nd-rate defender instead of Pels main big wings.

New Orleans Pelicans vs. Thunder preview (Game 5 of 82)

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  • New Orleans Pelicans (2-1) vs. Oklahoma City Thunder (3-1)
  • When: Wednesday, 01 November 2023 at 7:00pm CST
  • Where: Paycom Center, Oklahoma City, OK
  • Offensive Rating – NO: 101.6 (28th) / OKC: 111.1 (12th)
  • Defensive Rating – NO: 105.2 (8th) / OKC: 111.7 (17th)
  • Net Rating – NO: -3.6 (20th) / OKC: -0.6 (15th)

The Set-Up

Flashback to a couple of seasons ago. The New Orleans Pelicans were THAT team for the future. They had Zion Williamson, Brandon Ingram, some young role players in Jose Alvarado, Herb Jones, and Trey Murphy III, and a cache of picks from an aging Lakers squad. Let’s also include Memphis when we talk about the window of good young teams, not necessarily closing, but not being as wide open as it used to be. Building a contending team in the NBA is rarely linear. Teams have ebbs and flows as they are being built up to their final form.

The Pelicans and Grizzlies find themselves in sort of a crossroad heading into this season. Both have shaky superstars (for various reasons) and injuries are staring to rear its ugly head on each of these teams’ role players. As we look at teams like this, just know that the road to where we want to go is full of potholes and streaking deers in heat. While we appear to have a young core to build upon, that reality can change on a dime. Here’s to the road being a bit smoother for OKC, but also realizing that these instances are usually par for the course for building a contender.

Injury Report

OKC

  • Jaylin Williams (hamstring)
  • Kenrich Williams (back)

New Orleans

  • Jose Alvarado (ankle)
  • Naji Marshall (knee)
  • Trey Murphy III (knee)

Three Big Things

  1. Zion – Outside of Giannis Antetokounmpo, Steph Curry, and Nikola Jokic, possibly the hardest cover in the game. The task of guarding Williamson will likely fall on a combination of Jalen Williams and Lu Dort. This is where the loss of Kenrich Williams and Jaylin Williams looms large. Having various defenders that can be thrown at Zion is always more advantageous than just a few defenders.
  2. Use your fouls – The Pelicans are the worst free throw shooting team in the league currently. Over three games, they are shooting just 62.5% from the line. Zion is the main culprit, shooting just 55.6% on 6 attempts per game. CJ McCollum is only shooting 70% from the line this season (while being an 80%+ free throw shooter for his career).
  3. The return of home-court advantage – I don’t know why, but I feel like this game will be the return of Loud City. Remember, Oklahoma City didn’t have a chance to participate in the play-in tournament last season. Both play-in games were on the road for the Thunder. I’m sure this game will have a play-in/playoff atmosphere. Like it’s going to be a close game and the crowd will tip the scales in favor of the home team in the 4th quarter-type of game.

Thunder At A Glance – 22 February 2019

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img_4063Jackson Frank (FanSided NBA) on the development of Jerami Grant and if he’s the X-factor to their playoff success: “The most prominent new wrinkle in his game has been a serviceable outside jumper, connecting on 37.3 percent of his 3.1 3-point attempts per game — both career-highs. Slotting in next to Steven Adams, who’s 0 of 6 from deep in his six-plus seasons, Grant now (semi-)comfortably operates as a floor-spacer at the 4-spot. When defenders sag off to muddy up Russell Westbrook’s, Paul George’s or Dennis Schröder’s forays to the tin, Grant nails corner 3s at a 39 percent clip.”

Brett Dawson (The Athletic) on whether there should be more attention paid to Russell Westbrook’s accomplishments: “But as a reminder, he also is averaging a triple-double. Westbrook is attempting to do something for a third consecutive season that only one other player has done even once. He’s a run of consecutive stat-stuffing games that’s never been matched, and it’s something of a footnote.” Continue reading →

Thunder At A Glance – 15 February 2019

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img_4063Royce Young (ESPN) on the addition of Markieff Morris to the Thunder: “With financial constraints playing a part because of a significant luxury tax bill pending, the Thunder didn’t make a deal at the trade deadline, instead hoping to make an addition in the buyout market. Morris will provide versatility to the Thunder’s bench, backing up starting power forward Jerami Grant and providing another floor-spacing big in addition to Patrick Patterson.”

Chris Herring (FiveThirtyEight) says the Thunder are now Paul George’s team: “For years, Westbrook critics have suggested that he’d give his teams a better chance to win by taking a step back. More often than not, he ignored these voices. And once he had the spotlight to himself, he broke an NBA record for the highest single-season usage rate while also averaging a triple-double over a full season — and that 2016-17 OKC team finished sixth in the West and lost in the first round of the playoffs. Westbrook tried playing more unselfishly last season, though that largely seemed to backfire. But it seems to be working now.” Continue reading →