The westbound thunder beware of fighting pelicans

The Oklahoma City Thunder have won six of their last seven games.

The New Orleans Pelicans have won five games all season.

Still, both teams – albeit for different reasons – are feeling pretty good heading into their clash on Saturday night in New Orleans.

The Western Conference leaders Thunder earned a 129-92 road win over Toronto on Thursday, the same night the Pelicans ended a nine-game losing streak with a 126-124 home win over Phoenix.

“We’re having a lot of fun out there,” Oklahoma City guard Luguentz Dort said.

Oklahoma City is no more likely to overlook New Orleans than the Raptors, one of the worst teams in the East, or Utah. The Jazz, who have the worst record in the West tied with the Pelicans, lost to the host Thunder 133-106 on Tuesday.

“It’s the NBA,” said Oklahoma City star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who scored 30 points in 30 minutes and sat out the fourth quarter in Toronto on Thursday. “It’s the best league in the world, the most talented players in the world. You can’t insult someone because they will hit you. I never play for a team’s record. I go out there and do my best, and.” My teammates do the same thing. That’s why we’re successful.”

The Thunder led the Raptors by 22 points early in the second quarter and by 34 points at the end of the third quarter.

“I thought we were really ready to play right from the start,” Oklahoma City coach Mark Daigneault said. “The guys really took a business-like approach.”

The Thunder defeated the Pelicans 106-88 in their first meeting on November 13th in Oklahoma City. New Orleans was missing four starters and two more rotation players in this game, but the Pelicans are much healthier now.

Guards CJ McCollum and Dejounte Murray missed the first meeting but have since returned. The Pelicans got a boost Thursday against the Suns when leading scorer Brandon Ingram (calf) returned after a five-game absence and Herbert Jones (shoulder), the team’s top fullback, returned after an 18-game absence. The result was only their second win in 17 games.

“I told my teammates we just need to get a win,” McCollum said. “It was a long season. We lost a lot and there were a lot of frustrating games.”

“I know it was hard to watch for a while. But we competed and gave ourselves a chance. I liked the way we fought. If we play like this every night, we’ll have a chance to win a lot of games.”

Ingram scored 21 of his 29 points in a game-winning third quarter in which New Orleans had 45 points, a season-high of any quarter. McCollum had 13 points and three assists in the fourth quarter and Jones blocked Devin Booker’s three-pointer as time expired.

“Herb Jones is a leader,” Pelicans coach Willie Green said. “Even when he wasn’t playing, he was talking to the coaches, he was talking to his teammates. He watched film and showed the guys where they could be better.”

“He exemplifies what our program is about. Without him on the floor we would miss out on a lot. You could feel his presence from the moment he stepped on the floor.”

–Field level media