Why the Pelicans are focused on fixing defense down 2-0 to OKC
Chet Holmgren flustered Pelicans defenders as Oklahoma City forward Jalen Williams crept around his subtle yet effective ball screen.
Williams then found Holmgren in his shooting pocket, giving the slender 7-foot-1 unicorn time and space to rise above a late closeout from Brandon Ingram and drain his second 3-pointer of the night. The bucket came early in the first quarter and was part of a more extensive assessment from Holmgren.
He suspected Jonas Valanciunas couldn’t keep up with his on-ball screen action but chose to assess his theory head-on, which he passed with flying colors.
“I was just trying to read who was guarding me, what coverage they were in and make decisions based on that,” Holmgren said following the Thunder’s dismantling 124-92 win over the New Orleans Pelicans in Game 2.
“Overall, tonight, I made the right decisions and made the right play on pretty much all of those.”
The second Holmgren 3-pointer opened the floodgates to an avalanche of 3s from OKC, which hit seven in the first quarter.
It became clear from the opening tip that Thunder coach Mark Daigneault’s initial plan was to exploit Valanciunas’ poor defense in space — a tall task for the 6-11 Lithuanian to achieve. Holmgren’s presence began to free up open looks for others, such as Lu Dort, who knocked down a pair of 3s to lift OKC ahead by 13 at the end of the opening period.
With the Pelicans’ hopes for a comeback in the rearview mirror, the Thunder didn’t look back. OKC carries a 2-0 series lead into New Orleans on Saturday.
“There’s no pointing fingers — we all have got to be better,” Valanciunas said. “Our main focus right now is defense, and we’ve got to make some adjustments. We have to rewind that tape over and over again and see where we can be productive. Right now, we’re kind of guessing.”
It was a night filled with miscommunication, mental lapses and poor execution from the Pelicans. Recurring themes of pesky Lu Dort defense and stagnant offense from Sunday’s Game 1 loss remained the same on Wednesday.
Whenever New Orleans attempted to stop the bleeding, OKC responded with a barrage of buckets on the ensuing possessions. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander exploded in the third quarter, scoring 12 of his 33 points to balloon the Thunder’s lead to as much as 23 points midway through the period.
In addition to the Pelicans’ shaky defense, their offense was also largely deficient.
New Orleans finished the night recording more turnovers than assists. It coughed up the ball 18 times (eight of which were offensive fouls), leading to 22 points on the other end for OKC.
“We’ve got to take ownership in guarding the ball first and controlling the ball a bit better,” Pelicans coach Willie Green said. “They got into the teeth of the defense, got some early 3s, and that got us scrambling from there. A lot of the turnovers were the illegal screens that they called. I’ve never seen that many illegal screens, but no excuses on our part.”
While the Pelicans offense was deficient throughout most of the second half, a light of optimism emerged from Ingram.
He bounced back with an 18-point outing on just 10 shot attempts following a 5-for-17 shooting night in Game 1. Ingram’s play remains pivotal to New Orleans’ chances to come back from its deficit with its main scoring engine, Zion Williamson, sidelined with a hamstring injury.
First, the Pelicans’ defense will need to show up to extend the series and return to OKC. New Orleans’ defense was ranked seventh during the regular season but is behind the Phoenix Suns with the second-largest series point differential so far in the postseason.
Despite the struggles, Green remains optimistic about his team’s hopes of turning things around as they return to action in Smoothie King Center.
“It’s one game,” Green said. “They took care of their home court — that’s what they’re supposed to do. We wanted to come in and get one, but we didn’t. Now we have to regroup, get home, and take care of our home court.”