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Series odds

Pelicans (6.00) vs Thunder (1.14)

Vegas expects this to be a short one.

If NO forces this up to Game 6 or more, it should be considered a success.

without zion / and with ingram, the pelicans are 5-4 and scoring 114pp100 or so. the thunder are 39-4 when teams score less than 115pp100 against them this season, with one of those losses being early in the season against the pelicans. shai had one of his worst games and herbert jones had him in jail.

in the recent games chet has forced JV off the court and shai has done better with herbert jones, but the pelicans have been able to exploit the thunder's aggressive defense to make some threes.

i dunno that the pelicans have enough firepower without zion to win more than a game or two.

It’s so wack Zion got injured yet again.

Thunder in six is my prediction.

McCollum played pretty poorly in these two play-in games, however, his playoff history is pretty good from a performance perspective. If the Pelicans don't take care of the ball, OKC will be in transition a lot, so they must limit live-ball turnovers to have a shot at extending the series.

Key to the series is Lu Dort (defending Ingram I'm guessing) and Jaylin Williams (as another body to throw at Val/Nance). Jalen Williams coming out party. Brandon Ingram said something interesting in the postgame interview on TNT about the Thunder beating them in the play-in last year. The fact that he even was thinking about something like that bodes well for how energized the team will be.

Pelicans are terrible at home though. And their home crowd/fans are eternally pessimistic. So, if you couple their 0-22 record when trailing after three quarters this year with that information, it wouldn't shock me to see them win two games in OKC and lose all of their home games.

Chuck Everett wrote:Thunder in six is my prediction.

McCollum played pretty poorly in these two play-in games, however, his playoff history is pretty good from a performance perspective. If the Pelicans don't take care of the ball, OKC will be in transition a lot, so they must limit live-ball turnovers to have a shot at extending the series.

Key to the series is Lu Dort (defending Ingram I'm guessing) and Jaylin Williams (as another body to throw at Val/Nance). Jalen Williams coming out party. Brandon Ingram said something interesting in the postgame interview on TNT about the Thunder beating them in the play-in last year. The fact that he even was thinking about something like that bodes well for how energized the team will be.

Pelicans are terrible at home though. And their home crowd/fans are eternally pessimistic. So, if you couple their 0-22 record when trailing after three quarters this year with that information, it wouldn't shock me to see them win two games in OKC and lose all of their home games.

They will not win one game in OKC beats playoff atmosphere is back promise you that

LOUD CITY is back.

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Can’t wait to see playoff JDub & playoff Chet in action!

Thunder have the 1st seed in the west. We have a 93 pct chance for a top 10 pick

Thanks Houston

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This will be either a sweep or gentelman's sweep. If we had Zion i would be looking forward to this matchup but right now im scared of watching it.
2 best OKC players play with such a composure, dont force the issue, take their time, get to their spots, get to FT line and play excellent defense.
2 best(most-payed, they are not the best) Pelicans players take though shots, turn the ball over, don't get to FT line.
Name of the game? Efficiency. If CJ and Ingram get 25 points each on 25 shots we might as well play Jordan Hawkins and Matt Ryan.

I will write some observations and what Pelicans need to do in order to make this lets say a 6 game series or at least competitive sweep(see what i did there Lakers fans):
- Every minute of SGA has to be covered with one of Herb/Dyson. That means don't play Herb and Dyson togther, but stagger their minutes(lets say Herb 30, Daniels 10).
- Try to force the issue with Jonas Valanciunas at least first 2 games and see how it goes. Pels don't have efficient offense without Zion and if CJ and BI just do their mid-range bull this will be blowout sweep. Try to force Thunder to double Jonas and work on that. All of Pelicans players and i mean ALL OF THEM(including BI and CJ) are better at catch-and-shoot 3pt shots then at pull-up. No way Holmgren can hold Jonas 1v1, Jonas should be able to carry him on his back for full lenght of the court.
I know Jonas is not Nikola Jokic, he is sloppy, he makes fouls, he loses the ball, but i still think this is a better chance for an efficient shot then anything else Pelicans play right now(against playoff defense).
If you sit Jonas, and play Nance for 38 minutes, then you are playing OKC game, and they are far and away better then Pels in that game.
- play "The Knife"!!! Naji Marshall has to be in the game at least 20-25 minutes. There is enough minutes for him to get that. That guy isnt great basketball player but he has that edge in him, thats why he has that nickname. He will fight, he will stand for his teammates, he will knock open 3's and even though he is not as good of a defender as Herb and Dyson he will play his ass off every play.
- play Jose!!! Same thing as above. If CJ shrinks as he did today, dont be afraid to bench him. Alvarado is not just energy guy(even though he is great at that), he is actually a good basketball player. Yes he is small and can be abused on the other end, but he will hold his ground better then CJ will.
- Be smart. I know im boring with this, but Willie is not great offensive coach, everyone who watches the games knows that. The small things at the end of the games can't happen in the playoffs. For example game vs Lakers. Pels are down 4, 3 posessions in a row. 50sec left(shot at 40), 15 sec left(shot at 11), 10 sec left(shot at 3). What would you say if i told you all these shots were 2 pointers? How can you be down 4 and shot a 2 pointer with 3 seconds left? Even that at 11 seconds is dumb, but at least i can get some reasoning behind it(quick 2, foul, hope for a miss), even though that is also dumb. Shot the **** 3 pointer even if it is from half court you have more chance of winning game then hitting 2pt shot... That is just a small preview how Pelicans lose close games. That can't happen in this series.

EDIT: and most important thing of all. Willie needs to get at least 4 Ts in this series and first one like latest 5 mins into the game after bull SGA flop.


Advantages for OKC: Efficient top scores, coach
Advantages for Pels: Bench

Prediction: 4-1 OKC(3 blowouts).

Chet won’t force Valanciunas off the court nearly as much as Willie Green will lmao.

Oh good. OKC get an easy path to the 2nd round. Hopefully we can keep more of these high PnR teams in to potentially match up with Denver.

Thunder in 6.

Will cheer for my man Jonas, wonder how much he plays, not sure he could guard OKC, but surely Chet couldn't guard him either. Holmgren is already superior player and OKC advances, but I hope Jonas has an opportunity to welcome Chet to big boys league one more time with his fat old man strength.

Zion gotta take cortizone shots every game and play

What i like for New Orleans this series is they have a bunch of defenders to try to slow down SGA. i do think they can steal a game or two here.

OKC in 7. As inexperienced the Thunder are, I see no leaders on NO. Ingram is as high as a kite, Zion is MIA as usual and McCollum is on the decline. Home court will be the balancing factor with how inconsistent both teams are.

Statlanta wrote:OKC in 7. As inexperienced the Thunder are, I see no leaders on NO. Ingram is as high as a kite, Zion is MIA as usual and McCollum is on the decline. Home court will be the balancing factor with how inconsistent both teams are.

In what way are the Thunder inconsistent in your opinion? I didn't know that was a criticism of the team. Youth and experience, yes, but inconsistent? That's a new one.

Really hope my boy Ingram finds a new home next summer, 3 games back from injury and hiting tough shots, finding open guys to carry street clothes Zion to playoffs, again, while being heavily criticized by his fanbase and held together with McCollum(who scored 7points on 8 shots, last night).

Without Zion, I think this is a clean sweep.

Chuck Everett wrote:

Statlanta wrote:OKC in 7. As inexperienced the Thunder are, I see no leaders on NO. Ingram is as high as a kite, Zion is MIA as usual and McCollum is on the decline. Home court will be the balancing factor with how inconsistent both teams are.

In what way are the Thunder inconsistent in your opinion? I didn't know that was a criticism of the team. Youth and experience, yes, but inconsistent? That's a new one.

yeah I think consistency was our strength this season. More worried if we can elevate our level when needed.