OKC Thunder Head Coach Mark Daigneault, Guard Cason Wallace Discuss Pelicans Matchup

On Sunday night, Oklahoma City will host its first playoff game since the 2019 postseason when the No. 8 seed New Orleans Pelicans come to town.

After defeating the Pelicans 123-118 in the NBA Play-In tournament last season, the two teams will face off again in the first round a year later.

After Thunder practice on Saturday, head coach Mark Daigneault and rookie guard Cason Wallace spoke briefly about the team’s upcoming game and what makes the Pelicans such a strong team.

“I think what makes their team good (on defense) is how help-oriented they are,” Daigneault said. “They’re going to put you in a crowd, they’ve got length at every position, (Herb Jones) is obviously a great individual defender, but he plays within their system, similar to how we use it Lu (Dort). Great individual defender, but he plays within our system. Herb is a great individual defender, but they are also a very good defensive team.”

Over the past three seasons, Jones has been a solid role player for the Pelicans, earning All-Rookie honors in 2021-22 and starting 142 games over the past two years.

When OKC took on New Orleans in the Play-In, Jones had a solid outing, with 20 points, five rebounds, five assists, one steal and one block. This season, the former second-round pick is averaging 11 points, 3.6 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.4 steals per game while shooting 41.8% from beyond the arc.

At 6-foot-1, Jones’ defensive ability at the rim and three-point shooting could cause problems for the Thunder in their upcoming series against the Pelicans. However, as Daigneault mentioned, New Orleans has several players who can cause Oklahoma City’s offensive problems, especially in transition.

Throughout the regular season, Willie Green’s team featured one of the best transition defenses in the NBA, an area where OKC has flourished offensively. Of Naji Marshall And Trey Murphy III Because they are also solid defenders with good size on the perimeter, the Thunder will need to break through a good Pelicans defense to score consistently.

On defense, Oklahoma City will have to play with physicality to slow down the New Orleans lineup, which has several players who can score in spurts. Even without it Zion Williamson active before the start of the series, C.J. McCollum And Brandon Ingram can still get hot off the field and make life difficult for OKC’s defense.

On Saturday, Wallace noted that the entire team will have to play hard to slow down a Pelicans offense that has scored at least 105 points in its last 10 games.

“All five of us are going to have to take it,” Wallace said. “It doesn’t matter who is on the field, for both teams. We will have to play very physical and keep our man up front, fight every shot as best we can.”

With the No. 4 defensive rating in the NBA, the Thunder have played solid defense all season and will look to continue their efforts Sunday night in game one of the series.

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