Two future contenders square off in the No. 9 vs. No. 10 game in the West.
When the Pelicans host the Thunder, we’ll see two young stars swiped from Los Angeles teams (Brandon Ingram and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander). We’ll see what were two of the best defenses in the league this year, though OKC fell out of the top ten with a slump in the last few weeks.
And we’ll see two teams who lost a potential superstar for the season to injury and made it to the play-in tournament regardless (Zion Williamson and Chat Holmgren).
Gilgeous-Alexander had a breakthrough season, averaging 31.4 points, 5.5 assists, 1.6 steals and even one block per game.
He leads the league with 23.9 drives per game, part of the reason he shoots nearly 11 free throws per game. That’s how OKC survives with a remarkable lack of size.
