Top-seeded Thunder say their maturity matters more than youth heading into playoffs vs. Pelicans
OKLAHOMA CITY – After fielding seemingly the millionth question about how young his team is, Thunder coach Mark Daigneault explained why it’s not relevant in Oklahoma City’s case.
“The age is just a number, and there’s a difference between youth and maturity,” the 39-year-old coach said. “If you’re 23 and mature, that’s a good thing. You know, if you’re 33 and mature, that’s a good thing. If you’re 23 and immature, it’s not going to help you. If you’re 53 and immature, you don’t have much time left to figure it out.”
The Thunder, the youngest team in NBA history to secure a No. 1 seed, will open a Western Conference playoff series at home against the New Orleans Pelicans on Sunday.
While Daigneault touts his team’s maturity, Thunder players are well aware that their youth has outsiders wondering if Oklahoma City is vulnerable. Shai Gilgeous-alexander and Lu Dort are both 25, Jalen Williams just turned 23 and Chet Holmgren and Josh
Giddey are 21. That group helped the Thunder finish with a 57-25 record in the regular season.
“Too young, right?” Gilgeous-alexander said. “Heard that all year. It’s not going to change. We’re still young. We’ll probably be young for another four or five years. We don’t worry about it. We worry about what goes on in these four walls.”
New Orleans isn’t buying any talk of weakness. After all, the Thunder beat the Pelicans in the Play-in Tournament last year and won two of the three regular-season matchups this season.
“We know that Shai is going to bring pressure all night,” New Orleans forward Brandon Ingram said. “They have a really, really good team with good defensive guys . ... We’ve got to be prepared for all that. We’ve got to go into OKC with a sense of urgency, defensively especially, and then just try to find our best offense.”
While the Thunder are growing tired of hearing about their youth, the Pelicans are again hearing questions about how they’ll play without Zion Williamson.
After straining his left hamstring as he reached the 40-point mark in a loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday night, Williamson underwent imaging and further examination on Wednesday, after which he was essentially shelved for two weeks.
That means he would not be expected to play in the first four games of New Orleans’ first-round series.
After that, he’ll be reevaluated to see if he’s ready to resume basketball activities. That’s no sure thing with his body type (listed at 284 pounds) and injury history.
It’s a major loss – Williamson averaged 23.0 points, 5.8 rebounds and 5.0 assists in the regular season.
But the Pelicans have gone through this before. Last season, a hamstring injury sidelined Williamson for more than three months and he couldn’t return in time for the play-in loss to the Thunder.
The good news for the current core of this Pelicans team is that they have a history of being competitive without him. They are 8-5 this season when he’s out. Two years ago, the Pelicans made the playoffs and won two playoff games against eventual champion Golden State without Williamson appearing in a single game all season.
In Williamson’s absence, the Pelicans will rely on players across the lineup to play larger roles – particularly Ingram, who averages 20.9 points per game.
“I have more of a scoring role,” Ingram said. “Just a little bit more – be more aggressive. The margin of error is way shorter now. Every time down the floor, we have to get a good shot, we have to get defensive stops, we have to rebound the basketball. We know that’s most important for the playoffs.”
Daigneault said even without Williamson, the Pelicans are dangerous.
“It changes them significantly,” Daigneault said. “He’s just such a unique player. There’s a really good version of them without him and there’s a really good version of them with him.”