Best vs. Worst in the West: Thunder vs. Pelicans
The New Orleans Pelicans travel to take on the Oklahoma City Thunder tomorrow at 8:00 p.m. EST. Oklahoma City is first in the West with 42 wins, while New Orleans has 12 wins at the bottom of the Western Conference. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is averaging 32 points and has scored over 50 in two of his last six outings. The MVP favorite is one of the most crafty players and has one of the best dribble packages in the league.
Gilgeous-Alexander is one of the toughest players to guard in the league. He has excellent balance in his lower body. That allows him to step into pull-up jumpers with ease. His most common shot is dribbling into a shot at the elbow. The shooters around Gilgeous-Alexander make it even tougher for defenses to guard. Gilgeous-Alexander often gets to shake his defender one-on-one because opposing defenses want to stay home on shooters. If the defense wants to load up Gilgeous-Alexander, they have Luguentz Dort and Isaiah Joe, two players shooting 40 percent from deep. Aaron Wiggins and Jalen Williams are also solid shooters, hovering around 35 percent. They will also get Chet Holmgren back, who is one of the best floor spacers in the league.
On the other side, the Pelicans will play their second game since they traded away Brandon Ingram. Zion Williamson has been on a tear, averaging over 28 points per game in his last six outings. He has also played under 30 minutes per game. For the Pelicans to counter the Thunder, they will have to switch often to negate drive and kick opportunities. The downside to that is Gilgeous-Alexander will have more favorable matchups, and the Pelicans will have to live with that. If Gilgeous-Alexander decides to isolate, the Pelicans will have to be disciplined and stay home on shooters because they cannot take everything away. The offense will also run through Trey Murphy, who is averaging 22.7 points per game. That’s the same amount as Stephen Curry and more than Ingram. New Orleans has their hands full tomorrow against a star-studded Thunder squad.
