NBA

Oklahoma City Thunder at New Orleans Pelicans

· National Basketball Association
18-5, 9-3 Away
Final
119 - 109

5-19, 4-8 Home

Thunder beat Pelicans 119-109 for their 7th victory in last 8 games

Brandon Ingram falls hard on ankle, helped off court to locker room

The Thunder built a 77-51 halftime lead by dominating New Orleans in the paint and in transition, and won for the seventh time in eight games.

Dejounte Murray scored 26 points and Herb Jones added 24 for the Pelicans, who committed 18 turnovers and lost for the 16th time in 18 games.

New Orleans cut its deficit to 99-80 with by outscoring the Thunder 29-22 in third quarter and got as close as 114-105 with 3:31 left. The Thunder scored five straight to pull away.

Takeaways Thunder: OKC outscored the Pelicans 40-18 in the paint and led by 26 points at halftime. The Thunder shot 67.4% in the half (29 of 43), with 19 layups.

Pelicans: New Orleans committed six turnovers in the first 5:42 and trailed 20-5. It never got better. Leading scorer Brandon Ingram (23.2), who had just returned from right foot injury, left 17 seconds into the third quarter after landing awkwardly on Lu Dort’s foot and twisting his left ankle. He had five points.

Key moment Six of Gilgeous-Alexander’s first seven field goals were layups, and the other was a 3-point during a 16-point, first-quarter outburst. The Thunder led 35-23 after the first and coasted to the win. Gilgeous-Alexander had his 11th game of 30 or more points this season.

Key stat The Thunder came into the game with an NBA-best 12.1 steals per game, and had 13 against New Orleans.

Up next The Thunder will host Dallas on Tuesday night in the first round of the knockout stage of the NBA Emirates Cup. The Pelicans play the Spurs on Sunday in San Antonio.

Regular Season Series

OKC leads series 2-0

Matchup Prediction

Pelicans: 26.9%
Thunder: 73.1%
*According to ESPN's Basketball Power Index

Recent Plays

4th 0.0 End of Game 119 - 109
4th 0.0 End of the 4th Quarter 119 - 109
4th 1.0 shot clock turnover 119 - 109
4th 24.0 Luguentz Dort defensive rebound 119 - 109
4th 26.2 Jeremiah Robinson-Earl misses 23-foot three point jumper 119 - 109

Statistics

https://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/i/teamlogos/nba/500/okc.png&h=100&scale=crop&w=100&location=originOKC https://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/i/teamlogos/nba/500/no.png&h=100&scale=crop&w=100&location=originNO
45-85 FG 38-79
52.9 Field Goal % 48.1
12-32 3PT 11-37
37.5 Three Point % 29.7
17-21 FT 22-27
81.0 Free Throw % 81.5
45 Rebounds 35
10 Offensive Rebounds 8
35 Defensive Rebounds 27
27 Assists 25
13 Steals 15
3 Blocks 6
18 Turnovers 18
2 Team Turnovers 0
20 Total Turnovers 18
0 Technical Fouls 1
0 Total Technical Fouls 1
0 Flagrant Fouls 0
23 Points Conceded Off Turnovers 32
27 Fast Break Points 22
60 Points in Paint 46
24 Fouls 20
30 Largest Lead 0

Game Information

Smoothie King Center

Location: New Orleans, LA
Attendance: 15,718 · Capacity:

2024-25 Northwest Standings

TEAM W L PCT GB STRK
Oklahoma City 56 12 .824 - W3
Denver 43 25 .632 13 L1
Minnesota 40 29 .580 16.5 W8
Portland 29 39 .426 27 W1
Utah 15 53 .221 41 L9

2024-25 Southwest Standings

TEAM W L PCT GB STRK
Houston 43 25 .632 - W6
Memphis 43 25 .632 - W1
Dallas 33 36 .478 10.5 L3
San Antonio 28 38 .424 14 W1
New Orleans 18 50 .265 25 L2
Full Standings

NBA News

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Gilgeous-Alexander scores 31 as Thunder beat Bucks 121-105 for 10th win in last 11 games

— Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had 31 points and eight assists as the Western Conference-leading Oklahoma City Thunder defeated the Milwaukee Bucks 121-105 on Sunday night.

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SGA puts up 31 to lift Thunder past Bucks

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