How OKC Thunder survived Game 1 vs. New Orleans Pelicans behind Shai Gilgeous-Alexander

Joel Lorenzi, The Oklahoman

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander can tell you what each play felt like, but only an hour removed from the game.

Within seconds, he erased any memory of a missed stepback 3 with 7:38 to play in Sunday’s 94-92 Game 1 escape from the Pelicans. A shot that looked good to an entire building and felt good to the man himself. A shot that resulted in his hands atop his head, arms flopping down to his sides, exasperated like someone who’d just been laid off.

He deleted the first turnover, a well-intentioned ball beaming toward a presumably well-positioned Chet Holmgren. It was nowhere near the 7-footer’s grasp. The next play, the ball was poked from SGA’s usually possessive grasp. The play after that, he threw a ball past Lu Dort, watching its descent with a straight face. Every emotion evaporated in seconds.

From the outside, Gilgeous-Alexander’s world was seemingly crumbling. He’d been a calculated, unsolvable gust of wind all year long. The man with the plan. The old soul on a team of rugrats. An MVP candidate, named a Clutch Player of the Year finalist just hours earlier.

Internally, Gilgeous-Alexander didn’t think twice about the sequence. Play after play tossed out. Before a crowd so deafening that he couldn’t stay in his head long enough to soak in disappointment, SGA moved on.

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Then he connected on perhaps the two most important shots of the night.

“I’m upset — when I make a mistake, miss a shot — probably for about 10, 15 seconds,” said Gilgeous-Alexander, who finished with 28 points on 11-of-24 shooting. “Then it’s the next possession. If you want to win, you have to do so. You have to move on. There’s so many possessions late in the game, when it slows down, that if you let the previous possession distract you, you’ll let the game slip.”

The first was vintage. A 1-on-1 on the playground, where Gilgeous-Alexander could shake and bake to his heart’s desire. An opportunity he’d seldom received — if at all — Sunday. He’d seen pesky defenses in the regular season. Double, triple teams. Group cage matches. But few compared to the way New Orleans’ five-man wall rattled him Sunday.

“It feels like that every time we play them,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “They make you work to score.”

Gilgeous-Alexander was left alone to dance with Herb Jones, less than two minutes to play then. Not like the All-NBA guard had any choice. Where he moved, Jones followed. If SGA was checking in, Jones was in his line of sight from across the scorer’s table. Jones wasn’t going to switch partners.

And so SGA sized up. A between the legs, hanging the ball in his right hand. A behind the back, handing the ball in his left. The freeze. The shot. The redemption.

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Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (2) shoots over New Orleans Pelicans guard CJ McCollum (3) late in the fourth quarter during Game 1 of the NBA basketball playoff series between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the New Orlean Pelicans at Paycom Center in Oklahoma CIty, Sunday, April 21, 2024.
Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (2) shoots over New Orleans Pelicans guard CJ McCollum (3) late in the fourth quarter during Game 1 of the NBA basketball playoff series between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the New Orlean Pelicans at Paycom Center in Oklahoma CIty, Sunday, April 21, 2024.

It was a rare moment in what coach Mark Daigneault could only call a rock fight. Both teams were shooting below 32% from 3. The Pelicans shot just 38.5% from the field. Offense went scarce. After combining for 14 turnovers through three quarters, the teams combined for 13 in the final 12 minutes alone.

Save for Trey Murphy III’s deep 3s, there hadn’t been any true tough shotmakers in Sunday’s game.

Jalen Williams, en route to 19 points, had moments. Gilgeous-Alexander had shined in the first quarter. Brandon Ingram had some head-shaking shots fall. All looked more than mortal. All until the game’s end.

When New Orleans tied the game again, Gilgeous-Alexander did the most SGA thing possible: He scooped his dribble away from the help, CJ McCollum under him, drilling an impossible and-1 to send the Paycom Center into an eruption beyond saving.

But who else, with a Game 1 scare on the horizon, to seize the game. To simultaneously wield it and his narrative, chalked up as the fun, offensive enigma who hadn’t yet played in big games.

Moments rarely grow bigger than the one that was required from Gilgeous-Alexander on Sunday. Knowing him, he might forget about it come Wednesday.

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Cason Wallace's last stand

The only reason Cason Wallace knew his eyes hadn’t deceived him was that he’d been called out the play before.

For two straight late-game possessions, the Pelicans picked on the rookie defensive gremlin. The one that played 82 games without a peep, that’d been assigned difficult backcourt assignments from Day 1.

With McCollum’s pick between Williams and Wallace on the final play, McCollum chose the young bull. It backfired.

“They ran the same play at me twice in a row,” Wallace said, “so they thought I was a better matchup for them. It was kinda personal.”

Wallace didn’t want to be the one in replays, responsible for OKC losing its grip to overtime or possibly falling behind in the series. As McCollum tried cooking Wallace on an island, the rookie poked the ball loose. Five seconds left.

While the veteran New Orleans guard fought for some semblance of a look, Wallace bumped him back. 3.5 seconds left.

McCollum got Wallace in the air with what looked like a wild shot attempt, only to pivot closer to the arc for a leaning 3. Wallace’s hands were raised to avoid a foul. But McCollum, who finished with 20 points on 22 shots, didn’t end up a hero.

New Orleans preferred the rookie.

“He was awesome,” Daigneault said of Wallace. “He stood in there, two-point game. We didn’t want to go double in that situation. He almost got the ball. Lot of pressure, obviously took them out of what they were doing.”

Wallace spent 2:57 defending McCollum on Sunday, the majority of his defensive minutes, defending him for 13.3 partial possessions. He allowed four points, with McCollum shooting 2 for 5.

A long-savvy shotmaker and pick-and-roll savant, McCollum had success with the play before. He took Wallace downhill, he shimmied, then turned around on the baseline.

For McCollum, the final play wasn’t rolling the dice. Wallace, responsible for OKC's survival, was just doing what he’d done for the bulk of the season.

“I don’t really consider them rookies anymore,” Gilgeous-Alexander said of Chet Holmgren and Wallace. “They’ve played so many minutes, so many big moments. Once you get past 82 games, I don’t think you’re a rookie anymore.”

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The biggest block of Chet Holmgren’s season

There almost seemed to be no end to the gruesome trade of plays between the Pelicans and Thunder. A heartbreaking shot buried between turnovers and rebounds. More rebounds.

Offensive rebounds, a barrage of Pelicans continuing one never-ending play. With around a minute left, New Orleans grabbed four of them, part of its 18. The one thing keeping the Pels from capitalizing was Holmgren, whose 7-foot-6 wingspan seemed out of reach until it wasn’t.

“At the time, all that was going through my mind was trying to make a play,” Holmgren said. “I guess that’s what happened.”

Larry Nance Jr.’s shot reached its apex. Holmgren chopped its top off. Part of the building froze, unsure what to make of it. Grasping the height Holmgren reached. Wrapping its head around whether he was so high that he’d goaltended the shot.

But Holmgren’s block was clean, one of five on a 15-point, 11-rebound night. He became the fifth player in league history to tally 15+ points, 10+ boards and 5+ blocks in a playoff debut. He joined a group composed of Shaquille O’Neal, David Robison, Patrick Ewing and Kevin Kunnert.

His momentous block became SGA’s and-1, simultaneously becoming Sunday’s unsung hero.

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OKC Thunder vs New Orleans Pelicans playoff series schedule

  • Game 1: Thunder 94, Pelicans 92

  • Game 2: At 8:30 p.m. Wednesday (TNT) in OKC

  • Game 3: At 2:30 p.m. Saturday, April 27 (TNT) in New Orleans

  • Game 4: TBD Monday, April 29 in New Orleans

  • Game 5 (If necessary): TBD Wednesday, May 1 in OKC

  • Game 6 (If necessary): TBD Friday, May 3 in New Orleans

  • Game 7 (If necessary): TBD Sunday, May 5 in OKC

More OKC Thunder news

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OKC Thunder's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander clutch in Game 1 win vs Pelicans

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