OKLAHOMA CITY — Jonas Valančiūnas rarely allows his frustration to show after tough losses, but the New Orleans Pelicans center was seething as he sat at the podium for Wednesday night’s postgame news conference.
“It sucks losing,” he said. “More, it sucks losing like that.”
While his assessment wasn’t complex, it was a fitting description of the Pelicans’ horrid performance in their 124-92 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 2 of their first-round series.
Losses happen. Falling behind 0-2 in a series without Zion Williamson and against a talented squad like the Thunder shouldn’t be cause for panic, especially when those losses were surrounded by 18,000 rowdy Oklahoma City fans.
But for New Orleans to look this bad in a game of this importance brings the mental makeup of the group into question.
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As many have learned, it takes 82 games to build up a team’s confidence and only four to tear it down to the studs. The playoffs have a way of revealing all of the warts hiding under the surface. Under those bright lights, there’s nowhere to hide.
The truth is it will just take a win in Saturday afternoon’s Game 3 to breathe life back into the Pelicans and their fan base. But based on Wednesday’s performance, this team looks like it’s already on life support before it even gets a chance to play in front of its home growd.
After coming so close to stealing Game 1 on Sunday, New Orleans seemed poised to learn from its mistakes, make a few adjustments and come back prepared to make an even bigger push to even this series.
That theory went out the window almost immediately. New Orleans fell behind 35-22 at the end of the first quarter, and the lead never fell below eight points the rest of the night. Once the Paycom Center tidal wave hit them in the second half, the Pelicans looked shell-shocked, with mistakes that piled up as high as Oklahoma City’s lead.
“They came out physical. They were the aggressors,” Valančiūnas said. “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.”
The Pelicans failed to execute just about every aspect of their game plan. Coach Willie Green has stressed taking care of the ball against a Thunder team that led the league in points off turnovers. In Game 2, New Orleans gave up 22 points off 18 turnovers, including eight offensive fouls.
Here are each of the Pelicans’ 8 offensive fouls from tonight’s game. pic.twitter.com/gI0CtdMCZm
— Will Guillory (@WillGuillory) April 25, 2024
New Orleans wanted to get the ball out of the hands of OKC’s best scorers as much as possible and force others to produce. Instead, the Thunder’s big three of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren combined to score 80 points on 32-of-49 shooting. They didn’t have to work particularly hard to get wherever they wanted on the court.
After outscoring the Thunder 24-11 on second-chance points in Game 1, the Pelicans knew the importance of dominating the rebounding battle with Valančiūnas as the centerpiece. Instead, the Thunder outrebounded New Orleans 37-35 and held the Pelicans to eight second-chance points. Valančiūnas went from 20 rebounds in Game 1 to seven in Game 2.
Despite having one of the youngest rosters in the NBA, the Thunder put on a masterclass on making in-game adjustments and imposing one’s will.
Great in-game adjustment from the Thunder.
Pelicans zone was working and they (like other zones) have a rule where the ball gets to the high post they go man – like in clip #1.
So the Thunder put SGA in the middle, get the matchup vs Nance & leads to an SGA 3. pic.twitter.com/pwztpzqIgf
— Coach Gibson Pyper (@HalfCourtHoops) April 25, 2024
“I thought it frustrated us a bit not being able to get stops,” Green said. “It stopped us from coming down and running our offense. We predicate ourselves on being able to get stops. Sometimes, it can be demoralizing when a team is getting into the teeth of your defense.”
Worse, Brandon Ingram had another underwhelming performance in Game 2. After being limited to 12 points in Game 1, Ingram’s numbers (18 points on 5-of-10 shooting) were better Wednesday night. However, his no-show in the first half was the most inexplicable part of his night. He went into halftime with just four points and more turnovers (three) than field-goal attempts (two).
His lack of aggression was stunning to witness, especially considering the confidence with which he spoke after Sunday’s loss when peppered with questions about Thunder forward Lu Dort’s physical defense. “Let them do it,” Ingram said after Game 1. “I’ll be ready.”
But with Dort attached to him again Wednesday, Ingram once again recoiled. He captured some offensive rhythm with a 12-point third quarter, but that uptick in scoring did nothing to dent the Thunder’s lead. In fact, Oklahoma City’s advantage went from 13 points to 18 going into the fourth quarter despite Ingram finally making some noise.
Through two games, Ingram is shooting 5-for-14 from the field when Dort is the primary defender against him, according to NBA.com’s tracking data. Until he starts looking like himself again, the Pelicans won’t have any chance of making this a series and might have a tough time avoiding a sweep.
“Catching it in space can help. Being a playmaker everywhere on the floor, just not being stagnant,” Ingram said when asked how he can get himself going on offense. “Having some backdoor cuts, some post-ups, some curls to the elbows … whatever gives me space.”
Even if the players don’t admit it publicly, Game 3 could be a make-or-break moment for this version of the Pelicans. They have responded to adversity several times this season, recovering from their slow regular-season start, the In-Season Tournament semifinal flop and Williamson’s injury to win 49 games and reach the playoffs. But none of that matters if the result is a team crumbling on the playoff stage.
Zion’s absence, of course, plays a massive role in the team’s performance in this series. Game 3, however, will be about pride, not coaching adjustments, lineup changes or shooting variance. If the Pelicans crash and burn, questions about this team’s current construction will grow louder than ever before. Is the team’s foundation as strong as key decision makers thought? Do they need more veteran leadership? More mental toughness? Is the roster too expensive to justify potential luxury-tax costs in the new CBA? All of this will be in question if Oklahoma City plays the role of bully at the Smoothie King Center.
The defining characteristic of this Pelicans team is its ability to play best with its back against the wall. Game 3 will be the greatest test of that resolve.
“We’ve got to be together a little bit more,” Ingram said. “If you look at OKC, you can see how together they are. We can’t splinter. We’ve got to go back, look at the film, and we’ve got to talk amongst players about what’s our best defense (and) what’s our best offense. We’ve got to go out there and do it.”
(Top photo: Jamie Squire / Getty Images)
