OKLAHOMA CITY — Trying to create separation, CJ McCollum lost his handle and couldn’t get past Cason Wallace in the final seconds. Instead of a clean look to force overtime, he heaved a desperate 3-pointer that clanked off the rim. The final buzzer sounded and OKC avoided disaster.
The Oklahoma City Thunder won a thriller in Game 1 over the New Orleans Pelicans with a tight 94-92 win to go up 1-0 in the series. The back-and-forth contest saw both squads exchange leads in the final minutes.
“It was a tough game. I thought the defensive physically, really the whole game, was really, really good,” Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault said on the win. “We really held them to tough shots. They made a couple of tough ones, they obviously rebounded some of them. I thought the defense was really, really good tonight.”
It was an ugly start for both teams as they were tied at 17 apiece after the first quarter. That continued in the second frame as both squads tallied 26 points and entered halftime deadlocked at 43 points even.
Coming out of the break, both teams continued to exchange baskets. A 17-7 run by the Thunder finally created some space as they led by eight points with a little over four minutes left in the third frame. The Pelicans immediately answered with nine straight points to create a 66-65 advantage with less than two minutes left.
The Thunder had a strong final two minutes as they entered the fourth quarter with a 74-68 advantage. A 17-6 second-half run by OKC bled over to the final frame and the Thunder enjoyed a nine-point lead a little over one minute into the fourth quarter.
As the active crowd created momentum for the Thunder, it looked like OKC was on the verge of blowing it open after a stout opening three quarters. Instead, the Pelicans remained resilient and responded with a 9-3 run to cut the Thunder’s lead to 82-79 with less than nine minutes left in the game.
Ending a near-two-minute scoring drought, Herb Jones swished in a catch-and-shoot right-wing 3-pointer to tie the contest at 88 apiece with four minutes left. Soon after, Brandon Ingram’s transition basket gave New Orleans a 90-88 lead with 3:34 left following an OKC turnover.
Suddenly, the superb active crowd turned silent as the short-handed Pelicans survived the Thunder’s momentum and had a two-point lead. OKC called a timeout and both teams returned to a drought. They combined to miss the next three shots and committed six turnovers.
Finally, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander…
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