WASHINGTON – Shai Gilgeous-Alexander drained a go-ahead basket with 32.5 seconds left on April 21 as Western Conference top seeds the Oklahoma City Thunder clawed out a 94-92 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans in their National Basketball Association (NBA) play-off opener.
The guard said: “I set a screen on the ball. And they switched on Dub (Jalen Williams). And then I just caught the ball at the elbow and just tried to be aggressive and make a play that I’ve made before.”
Hours after the 25-year-old was named a finalist for NBA Most Valuable Player alongside Denver Nuggets star Nikola Jokic and Luka Doncic of the Dallas Mavericks, Gilgeous-Alexander scored 28 points to lead the Thunder.
The Pelicans were missing star Zion Williamson because of a hamstring strain, but they refused to buckle at Oklahoma’s Paycom Centre.
“We had quality shots coming down the stretch that we just didn’t make, and it came down to the final play,” said New Orleans coach Willie Green.
The pulsating contest featured 20 lead changes and was a marked contrast to the wins posted earlier by the Boston Celtics, Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Clippers, who all roared out of the gates on the way to dominant victories.
Said Thunder coach Mark Daigneault: “I thought we showed great grit down the stretch. Obviously, that was a tight game. It was a bit of a brawl for both teams offensively. And we made plays defensively down the stretch – big-time plays – and had the resolve to go in and win the game.”
The Celtics, fuelled by Jayson Tatum’s first career play-off triple-double, parlayed a 14-0 start to a 114-94 victory over the Miami Heat.
The Clippers shrugged off the absence of Kawhi Leonard, bullying Dallas early on the way to a 109-97 victory over the Mavericks, who put up just eight points in the second quarter.
In Milwaukee, Damian Lillard scored all 35 of his points in the first half as the Bucks built a 69-42 half-time lead and held on to beat the Indiana Pacers 109-94, despite the absence of Giannis Antetokounmpo.
The first half in Oklahoma City saw a dozen lead changes and ended deadlocked at 43-43.
An 11-0 scoring run gave the Thunder a nine-point lead midway through the third period, but the Pelicans countered every punch they threw and were up by two after Brandon Ingram’s layup with 3min 34sec left.
Gilgeous-Alexander tied it with 1min 36sec remaining and was fouled on his go-ahead basket, making the free throw for a 93-90 Thunder lead.
Trey Murphy III scored 21 points to lead the Pelicans and C.J. McCollum added 20 but missed a three-point attempt in the waning seconds.
“We didn’t execute down the stretch the way we wanted to. We let them believe, but we did enough to get the ‘W’,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “One game closer to our goal.”
Williams scored 19 points and Chet Holmgren had 15 points, 11 rebounds and five blocks for the Thunder, who host Game 2 of the best-of-seven series on April 24. AFP
