Shai Gilgeous-Alexander leads Oklahoma City Thunder to win and take lead in playoff series

On Wednesday night Oklahoma City Thunder defeated New Orleans Pelicans by 124-92 as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 33 points and helped the team to take a 2-0 lead in the first round of the playoff series in Western Conference. Jalen Williams scored 21 points and Chet Holmgren scored 26 points and seven rebounds. 

For New Orleans Pelicans Jonas Valanciunas scored 19 points while his teammate Brandon Ingram and Herb Jones got 18 points each. Zion Williamson missed yet another match for the New Orleans Pelicans due to a hamstring injury as they struggled in attack.

Valanciunas got 20 rebounds in Game 1, nine of which were offensive, as the Pelicans outrebounded the Thunder 52-44. Oklahoma City outrebounded New Orleans 37-35 on Wednesday, limiting the Pelicans to just eight offensive boards.

The tempo increased dramatically since Sunday's game, which Oklahoma City Thunder won 94-92. The Thunder, who averaged 120.1 points in the regular season, were considerably more at ease with it. Additionally, the Thunder scored 22 points off of New Orleans' 18 turnovers.

Upper hand for Oklahoma City Thunder in the game

In the first three minutes of the match, Jonas Valanciunas got 11 points but Chet Holmgren made a countered comeback with 13 points in seven minutes of the first quarter. But later in the last three minutes of the first quarter Shai Gilgeous-Alexander helped the team to take the lead by 35-22.

By halftime, Oklahoma City Thunder were leading by 63-50 as Holmgren and Gilgeous-Alexander got 20 points and 16 points. By the time of the third quarter, Oklahoma City Thunder led 92-74 at the end of the third quarter, and Gilgeous-Alexander and Holmgren were benched with the Thunder up 120-86 in the fourth. Holmgren scored 15 points, the highest by a Thunder rookie in any quarter of a playoff game.

Game 3 of the playoff series will be played on Saturday.