Gilgeous-Alexander Leads Thunder Past Pelicans | ESPN Charlotte

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander implemented a new mentality during his lowest-scoring first half of the season, routinely deferring to teammates such as Lu Dort and Josh Giddey in an effort to keep New Orleans defenders honest in a winner-take-all play-in game.

“To start the game, I wasn’t expecting a huge outburst offensively,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “I wanted to kind of set the table to make sure my teammates were ready to go, confident and attacking. And I knew once I did that, the defense would have to worry about them as well and my offensive game would open up.”

And how.

Gilgeous-Alexander scored 25 of his 32 points after halftime, including a go-ahead baseline jumper and four timely free throws in the final 29 seconds, and the Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Pelicans 123-118 on Wednesday night to stay alive in the Western Conference play-in tournament.

The Thunder All-Star’s bag of tricks included spinning dribble drives, varying mid-range jumpers, and a 3-pointer as he once again shot 50% (11 of 22) to match his season average.

Giddey had 31 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds for the Thunder (41-42), the only Western Conference team still playing with a losing record.

“We did a great job of not getting rattled” after Brandon Ingram’s putback dunk gave the Pelicans a 110-108 lead, Giddey said. “Nothing ever phased us. It’s such a young group, but it’s such a composed team and that’s how you have to be down the stretch of tight games like that.”

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The loss eliminated the ninth-seeded Pelicans, while 10th seed Oklahoma City advanced to play Anthony Edwards and the Minnesota Timberwolves at the Target Center on Friday night for the right to enter the NBA playoffs as an eighth seed and square off against Nikola Jokic and No. 1 seed Denver Nuggets.

Ingram scored 20 of his 30 points in the second half, including a 3-pointer with 4.3 seconds left to give the Pelicans a slim chance to come back.

But after Gilgeous-Alexander hit two free throws to put the Thunder up by three, Herbert Jones had a devastating turnover on an inbound pass, sealing the Pelicans’ fate.

Dort scored a season-high 27 points, hitting four triples and finishing with two free throws in the final seconds.

Jonas Valanciunas had a strong double-double with 16 points and 18 rebounds for New Orleans, but exited the game with 4:26 left after apparently injuring his right foot. He returned only briefly in the final minute.

Trey Murphy III scored 21 points, Jones had 20 and CJ McCollum 14 for the Pelicans, who a season ago went 2-0 in play-in games as a ninth seed to advance to the first round of the playoffs where they would go on to lose to Chris Paul and the Phoenix Suns.

This time around, New Orleans, which was at the top of the Western Conference standings in December, was left to wonder what might have been had All-Star forward Zion Williamson not strained his hamstring on January 2, an injury that wound up sidelining him for the rest of the season.

“It’s important to have your guys on the floor,” coach Willie Green said. “It helps your team reach its potential. We didn’t do that this season.”

Gilgeous-Alexander scored 17 in the third quarter and Giddey added 12, including his third 3-pointer of the contest to give the Thunder a double-digit lead, 95-85.

“The third quarter, I thought we got a bit casual in our approach,” Green said. “They just made more plays than us.”

The Pelicans went back in front when Josh Richardson’s steal and breakaway dunk made it 101-100 in the fourth quarter.

But as the Thunder came back up the court, Richardson knocked Giddey to the floor near midcourt. Giddey angrily came to his feet and advanced toward Richardson and teammates restrained both of them while officials called for a video review and determined that Richardson had committed a flagrant foul.

Giddey made one of two free throws to tie it and set the stage for a dramatic finish.

Dort, who averaged 13.7 points during the regular season, scored 14 in the opening quarter. But a pair of 3s by Murphy helped New Orleans take a 63-57 halftime lead.

Ingram appeared to roll his left ankle late in the second quarter. He did not check out of the game, however, and played the majority of the second half.

Thunder: Gilgeous-Alexander has scored 10 or more points in a third quarter 40 times this season. Oklahoma City outscored New Orleans 21-11 in points off turnovers. The Pelicans committed 11 turnovers, the Thunder seven.

Pelicans: Played without prominent frontcourt reserve Larry Nance Jr., who had been questionable since injuring his left ankle on Sunday in a loss at Minnesota to close the regular season. Outrebounded the Thunder 48-38. Williamson, who missed his 46th straight game as he continues his recovery from a January 2 right hamstring injury, took part in warmups and finished up with a windmill 360 dunk.

McCollum said he needed surgery three months ago on his right thumb.

“I delayed it to try and help our team get to the playoffs and we came up short,” McCollum said, adding that he also hurt his shoulder recently and expects to have that examined as soon as Monday. “I was doing what I could to try and help out the team.”