Tonight, the New Orleans Pelicans will take on the Portland Trailblazers. Later this week, they’ll take on the Oklahoma City Thunder with a potential first-round preview.
The New Orleans Pelicans are looking to have home court advantage throughout the first-round of the NBA Playoffs. While the specifics of the first-round are still be written. The Pelicans have a sample size of two possible opponents in the coming games.
First, they’ll place Portland tonight, on April 1st, they’ll face the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Oklahoma City Thunder are one of the most difficult teams to figure out in the entire NBA. They’re games where OKC looks like they’re ready to win a championship, then there are games where they look like they shouldn’t be in the playoffs.
The 44-31 Thunder is 2nd place in the Northwest Division behind the Portland Trailblazers. No one would have predicted this at the beginning of the season when OKC traded for Paul George, then Carmelo Anthony. Most fans envisioned a Western Conference Finals clash with Golden State and then an NBA Finals appearance against the Cavs.
It would appear the universe and the basketball God’s have other plans. Oklahoma City Thunder has struggled in a variety of areas. Oklahoma City is 29th in the league in free throw shooting at 71.4%. Seriously, a team with George, Anthony, and Russell Westbrook is shooting 71.4% from the line on the season. That’s just plain wacky.
Oklahoma City by the numbers
Oklahoma City also has adopted a very isolation-heavy offense with the addition of Anthony and George. They’re averaging 21 assists per game ranking them 28th in the NBA. Still, OKC remains a dominant force in the NBA. Westbrook is still capable of taking over a game and leading the Thunder to victory.
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Westbrook leads the Thunder in total points per game at 25.4. George is right behind him with 21.6 and Anthony is averaging 16.3. The biggest surprise of the Oklahoma City Thunder this season has been the play of Steven Adams. Adams has been instrumental in his defensive presence in the paint. He’s also upped his scoring average this season to 14.3 points a game.
OKC has an interesting bench unit as well. Jerami Grant is described as OKC’s utility man. He’s a do-it-all type of player at the stretch four position. They also have a veteran back-up point guard in Raymond Felton.
OKC suffered a similar blow to that of the Pelicans when Andre Roberson was shut down for the season. Roberson ruptured his patellar tendon against the Detroit Pistons in late January. Since then, the OKC Thunder acquired veteran swingman, Corey Brewer who is filling the void left by Roberson.
Next: Will The Pelicans have home court advantage?
If this is the New Orleans Pelicans first-round opponent. You can believe this will be a battle. The Pelicans will host the Thunder on April 1st. This will be a good preview of what could be a very back-and-forth series.