After months of basketball, the 2022-23 NBA regular season is officially over. Now, all eyes are on the Play-In Tournament to see who will secure the final four spots in the 2023 NBA Playoffs. With the New Orleans Pelicans set to host the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday night, it means it is time for some Pelicans NBA Play-In Tournament predictions.
New Orleans finished the regular season with a 42-40 record, which was good for the No. 9 seed in the Western Conference. This will be the second year in a row that the Pelicans will be in the Play-In Tournament, as they defeated both the San Antonio Spurs and Los Angeles Clippers to advance to the first round of the playoffs last season.
At one point this year, the Pelicans had one of the best records in the league at 26-17. However, Zion Williamson's injury seriously affected their performance throughout the rest of the campaign.
On the other side of the matchup, the Thunder had one of the most surprising campaigns this year. After being projected to finish at the bottom of the standings, OKC went 40-42 to secure the final Play-In spot in the Western Conference.
The Pelicans and Thunder met four times in the 2022-23 regular season, with New Orleans winning the season series 3-1. Although the Pelicans will have home-court advantage, a win-or-go-home game can always bring some surprises. With that being said, here are some bold predictions for the New Orleans Pelicans in their 2023 NBA Play-In Tournament game versus the Oklahoma City Thunder.
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3. The Pelicans will hold Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to less than 30 points
It's no secret that Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is the player the Pelicans will pay the most attention to in this game. The young star guard is coming off his first All-Star campaign and is a legit contender for the Most Improved Player Award.
Gilgeous-Alexander averaged a career-high 31.4 points, 5.5 assists, and 4.8 rebounds per game, in addition to 1.6 steals and a block per game as well. SGA posted these wildly impressive numbers while shooting 51 percent from the field and 34.5 percent from behind the arc.
Despite winning three out of their four matchups in the regular season, New Orleans struggled to slow down Gilgeous-Alexander when these two teams played against each other. He averaged 33.5 points, eight rebounds, and 4.3 assists in those four encounters while also taking over 12 free throws per game.
With a playoff spot on the line, the Pelicans need to contain Gilgeous-Alexander as much as possible. If he has another performance like the ones he had in the regular season, it might be too much to overcome. Luckily, it says here that New Orleans will hold him to less than 30 points in this one, which would put them in a great position to come out victorious.
2. Brandon Ingram goes off, has a 30-5-5 game
As for the Pelicans, they will need all they can get from Brandon Ingram. While he missed nearly half the season due to various injuries, Ingram has been carrying New Orleans when he's been healthy enough to play in the absence of Williamson.
The star forward put up a personal-best 24.7 points per game, in addition to 5.8 assists and 5.5 boards per game. He hit 48.4 percent of his field goals, 39 percent of his 3-pointers, and 88.2 percent of his free-throw attempts.
Ingram only played against the Thunder once this season, but he shot 14-for-24, with three of those makes being 3-pointers, for 34 points with four rebounds and an assist. The Pelicans would end up winning 103-100 on the road.
Since Ingram is having a big year, even with his injuries, chances are he will continue his elite display with a 30-5-5 performance on Wednesday. If Ingram can play at this high level, the Thunder will have a tough time stopping the Pelicans offense.
1. Pelicans-Thunder contest will be decided by at most 10 points
Even though the game is at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans, and the Pelicans had the edge over the Thunder in the regular season, this game has a lot at stake. A negative result means the end of the season for one of these two teams, so this will be a battle right until the final whistle.
According to FanDuel, the Pelicans are the favorites to win this contest. However, the spread is at just -5.5, showing that many fans believe this game should be a close one. In the regular season, New Orleans won its three games by a combined point differential of ten, showing how things could have gone either way depending on how a few possessions played out.
This game will likely come down to which team can stop the other team's star player. Gilgeous-Alexander is having the best year of his career and will be looking to continue his hot streak into the Play-In Tournament. Ingram could also shine as he appears to be fully recovered after playing in New Orleans final 14 games. Supporting players, such as Jalen Williams on the Thunder and CJ McCollum on the Pelicans, should be impactful as well in this one.
This has all the makings of a close game, and it says here that it will be decided by at most ten points. The result will be a thrilling matchup, with the final possessions being extremely important. Whoever wins this one will be extra motivated for the Play-In game that would follow later this week.
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