The New Orleans Pelicans came oh-so-close to stealing Game 1 against the Oklahoma City Thunder. What was supposedly a one-sided matchup became an intense fight between the first and the eighth seed. In the end, the Thunder's defense held strong and got them the win. However, things might have gone differently had Brandon Ingram played better than he did in the game.
Ingram shot 5-for-17 from the field (a shade under 30%), missing both of his three-point attempts for just 12 points. That's simply an unacceptable performance from the Pelicans star. After the game, Ingram vowed to be better in the next game and that he won't stop shooting the ball, per Pelicans Film Room.
“Keep shooting. I'm not here for nothing. The story is already written. I just keep going and find my groove in the midst of the offense. It's not about me, I'll find myself as we continue to keep going”
Sometimes, the best solution to a shooting slump is to just continue shooting. Ingram has been a pretty consistent shooter and finisher, so a performance as bad as this is pretty uncharacteristic. Pelicans head coach Willie Green also said that Ingram will need to fight through this adversity for this team to make it far in the playoffs as the eighth seed.
“Its not about what we need to do to free up BI. This is gonna be playoff basketball. He's gotta to continue to play through it, have some gamesmanship out there, gotta go to the FT line a bit more… Continue to play with force”
Brandon Ingram's Zion Williamson-less Pelicans
The Pelicans are facing a much, much tougher task than what meets the eye. Yes, they're already the underdogs as the eighth seed. To make matters worse, the Pels will be playing without Zion Williamson for perhaps the entire first round.
It seemed like Williamson was primed to take over the playoffs after his performance in the Play-In Tournament. Against the Lakers, the Pelicans star was on fire, dropping 40 huge points. However, a left hamstring strain late into the game forced him out of action. Williamson will be reevaluated in two weeks, and even then, it's not a guarantee that he'll be able to play.
Against the Sacramento Kings, Ingram stepped up in a huge way, scoring an efficient 24 points along with a few dimes here and there. He was also supported by the rest of Pelicans' roster, with five players scoring double-digits. New Orleans was hoping for a similar performance of sorts to ambush the first-seeded Thunder. Unfortunately, Oklahoma's isolation defense was too much for Ingram to overcome.
This might have been the Pelicans' best chance to steal a game from the Thunder in this series. We all expected OKC's experience to bite them back, and the veteran New Orleans team nearly took advantage of that. A few more made shots from Ingram might have made the game end differently.
Unfortunately, the Pelicans can't take this game back. What they can do, though, is reflect on this game to see what they can do better for Game 2.
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