Last season, the New Orleans Pelicans demonstrated that they do not require the frequently injured Zion Williamson to dominate in the postseason.
That’s a good thing because it looks like Williamson won’t play for the Pelicans this time either, starting with the play-in game against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday.
Williamson harmed his right hamstring on Jan. 2 with the recuperation time frame presently surpassing over 90 days. The No. It was the third time in four NBA seasons that the 2019 No. 1 overall pick had played fewer than 30 games during the regular season.
Williamson is out because he doesn’t think he can perform at his best in the most crucial game of the season on Wednesday, when the losing team will be eliminated from the season.
New Orleans (42-40) finished the regular season ninth in the West with nine wins in 12 games, despite the ongoing Williamson drama. Oklahoma City came in 10th (40-42). After the Timberwolves were defeated by the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday by a score of 108-102 in overtime, the winner of Wednesday’s game will play Minnesota on Friday for a playoff spot.
In the play-in format last season, the Pelicans performed admirably without Williamson, defeating the San Antonio Spurs and Los Angeles Clippers to secure a playoff spot. In the first round, New Orleans surprised everyone by playing the Phoenix Suns, who were the top-seeded team. They won twice by double digits, but they lost the series in six games.
Brandon Ingram (24.7 points per game) and CJ McCollum (20.9) will be the Pelicans’ primary sources of offense once more. However, New Orleans will need to play better than it did Sunday, when it lost to the tense Minnesota Timberwolves 113-108 in the regular season finale.
With back-to-back victories to close out the regular season, the Thunder are ahead of schedule with their major rebuilding project.
Oklahoma City was a consolidated 46-108 the beyond two seasons prior to taking significant steps behind a youthful cast drove by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who is averaging a group driving 31.4 focuses per game.
After the regular season ended, few people expected the Thunder to play, and now they have their biggest game in Mark Daigneault’s three seasons as coach.
Josh Giddey, Lu Dort, and rookie Jalen Williams are among the impressive group of young players. Even though Oklahoma City did not have a No. Chet Holmgren, the second-round pick, will miss the entire season because of a foot injury.
Williams, the twelfth generally pick, is anticipating the greater stage.
Three of the four meetings this season were won by the Pelicans, but the most recent one was won by Oklahoma City, 110-96, on March 11 in New Orleans.
