The New Orleans Pelicans play host to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Saturday night in a Western Conference showdown from the Smoothie King Center. The Western Conference standings have become even more crowded of late, with only one game separating these two teams. The Thunder have won three of their last four, while the Pelicans are coming off of a win themselves the last time out, so something will have to give in this matchup. The Pelicans have won all three meetings this season between the two teams, though with all of the previous contests coming down to the wire, there's little doubt that this one won't be close too.
Even though they lost the last time out, the Thunder have done well to find some recent success, stringing together a three-game winning streak prior. They find themselves 12th in the West as of Saturday morning, though with how close everyone is in the standings, it would only take a few more wins to see them climb, while a few losses would see them tumble. They've struggled on the road this season, sporting an 11-20 record, and with three losses already to the Pelicans, it's asking a lot of this group to flip a switch and find success away from home. With road games in two of the next three after this one, the Thunder knows that they need to try to muster up some success if they want to find their way into the playoffs.
Injuries haven't been helpful of late either, though their most important piece is trending in the right direction. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (abdominal) missed the last game but is probabl e for this one, which is great news, especially as Jalen Williams (wrist) appears trending towards giving it a go as well. With a trio of others ruled out, the Thunder will at least be happy to have two key pieces in the backcourt.
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Oklahoma City's offense has been leading the way this season and that expects to be the case again in this one. They rank second in the league in scoring but have done it through a high-paced tempo. If the Pelicans can slow them down, it could cast a different story over how this one goes. The more pressing concern is the lack of success on the defensive glass, where they rank near the bottom of the league, which makes sense given some of their injuries in the frontcourt. Having Gilgeous-Alexander (31.2 ppg) is crucial, especially as he's established himself as one of the elite scorers in the NBA this season. The x-factor remains Josh Giddey (6.2 ppg, 7.8 rpg, 6.2 apg) as the do-everything guard can really impact this game on both ends.
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