Stiles Points: OKC Thunder Should Take Advantage of Short Series Opportunity
The Oklahoma City Thunder should take advantage of their short series chance against the New Orleans Pelicans.
The top three seeds in the Western Conference enter Saturday’s slate of NBA Playoff action a combined 8-0.
After Minnesota again trounced Phoenix on Friday, the top of the bracket seems to be safe.
As the Northwest Division cruises, it’s especially important for Oklahoma City to make quick work of the banged up Pelicans.
While the series is shifting to New Orleans where complementary players typically play better, OKC has to TCB.
As the Dallas Mavericks move to 2-1 in their first round series against the L.A. Clippers, the two seemed poised for the lone competitive first round battle.
This young Thunder squad taking care of a Pelicans squad that has been lackluster at home turning in the 18th best record on familiar soil.
Beating the Pelicans in short order would give them ample time off to prepare for a more feisty foe.
With the Thunder owning home court advantage in the second round, they would be waiting for a weary squad.
The Pelicans have shown little signs of life in this series scoring 92 points in back-to-back outings with lackluster defense.
Even when the Thunder were held to 94 points, it was largely due to self inflected wounds.
Having already matched up with the Pelicans once inside the Smoothie King Center in the postseason and won - last year’s play-in tournament - that should give OKC a slight boost of confidence.
Not playing with their food will be important if the Thunder are poised for a lengthy playoff run.
Stiles Points
- The OKC Thunder will sport White Uniforms on Saturday against the Pelicans in red, each team has won these threads once this series.
- Oklahoma City issues a clean injury report again, while the Pelicans only have Zion Williamson out. This is good news for New Orleans who saw Larry Nance Jr. leave Game 2 early after walking gingerly.
- The New Orleans Pelicans have high praise for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander - who a ten-year veteran struggled to find a comparison for.
Song of the Day: The City of New Orleans by Willie Nelson.
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