The New Orleans Pelicans can say they are not panicking, but actions speak louder than words. The eighth-seeded underdogs knew they allowed a golden opportunity to slip away in a two-point Game 1 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder. Both teams were confident going into Game 2, but only one of them seemed prepared to square up in a rematch.
A playoff series does not start until someone loses a home game, or so the saying goes. However, this New Orleans team defeated itself in Oklahoma City by simply not being ready for the moment. They admittedly did not match the Thunder's playoff-level intensity, and it showed up on the stat sheet. The blowout was marred by 17 turnovers from the visitors. The Thunder's flopping being rewarded only exacerbated the Pelicans' issues, per Wille Green.
Green was grumbling about the nature of the calls but tried to keep the focus on what his team could do differently in Game 3.
“A lot of the turnovers were the illegal screens that they called. I've never seen that many illegal screens but no excuses on our part…I thought they turned up the pressure offensively. They got some early threes and that opened the floodgates up for them…Tough one for us. Give them credit, they took care of home court. We've got to get back (to New Orleans) and regroup.”
Pelicans not getting off easy after Game 2 loss
Ten-year veteran Jonas Valanciunas (19 points, seven rebounds, two assists, two turnovers) was not as nice as the third-year head coach when diagnosing what went wrong for the Pelicans.
“They came out physical. They were aggressors,” Valanciunas admitted. “I don't know what to say, we didn't expect them to play that hard. That's on us. It's not acceptable. It was a shame today…They had a great shooting night. Hit a couple of tough ones. Hit easy ones. As I said earlier, we didn’t match their physicality on defense. We have to watch the film now. We have to make some adjustments. Have to be better on Saturday. Simple as that. There is no way out. We just have to be better.”
The Pelicans will never get back into this series if they keep coughing up turnovers at an alarming rate. They had seven turnovers in the first three quarters of Game 1. New Orleans followed with seven turnovers in the final 12 minutes of that loss. Willie Green's group followed up with 17 turnovers in Game 2.
Those turnovers led to 22 points in Game 2, and the Pelicans were visibly “frustrated” in the huddle.
“I thought it frustrated us a bit, not being able to get stops,” Green allowed. “It stopped us from coming down and being able to run our offense. Sometimes it can be demoralizing when a team is getting into the teeth of your defense, they are kicking out, getting 3s, and we are in scramble mode.”
Oklahoma City shot 59% from the floor and 48.3% from 3-point range, a testament to Green's scrambling comments. The Pelicans are not quite scrambling to save their season in Saturday's Game 3, but they are in serious need of answers. The Thunder have all the momentum. Chet Holmgren and Gilgeous-Alexander combined for 59 points and barely played in the fourth quarter during Game 2.
Brandon Ingram's inability to solve the defensive riddle of Lu Dort has been a problem. So have turnovers. It's a season-long problem that the Pelicans will definitely hear about should the turnovers pile up in the Smoothie King Center on Saturday. The franchise is opening up the arena early and doing half off on drinks for Jazz Fest weekend.
Too many turnovers will have the Pelicans singing the blues. Their backs would be against the wall in a must-win Game 4 as well.
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