{"id":350895,"date":"2025-11-02T18:38:33","date_gmt":"2025-11-02T18:38:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/350895\/"},"modified":"2025-11-02T18:38:33","modified_gmt":"2025-11-02T18:38:33","slug":"okc-looks-to-improve-to-7-0-with-win-over-new-orleans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/350895\/","title":{"rendered":"OKC looks to improve to 7-0 with win over New Orleans"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Oklahoma City Thunder (6-0) are back at home to face the New Orleans Pelicans for a Sunday afternoon Western Conference battle. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

OKC is coming off a two-day break after defeating the Washington Wizards on Thursday night, 127-108.<\/p>\n

Isaiah Joe returned to spark the offense; he made five 3-pointers and stepped up while Chet Holmgren sat out with an injury.<\/p>\n

Oklahoma City has tried not to rush players back from injury during the regular season, and Joe benefited from that approach.<\/p>\n

“He’s quietly accumulated a lot of experience here now,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. “Some of that stuff’s like riding a bike, and some of that stuff you have to keep sharp. He worked hard in his return to play. We’re conservative reintroducing people that are coming off injury. He was definitely ready, came in with great rhythm.”<\/p>\n

Gilgeous-Alexander scored 31 points and hardly played the 4th quarter, reminiscent of last season’s dominant run to an NBA Championship. <\/p>\n

Unfortunately, after the game, it was reported that SGA’s home in Oklahoma City was broken into.<\/p>\n

>>> <\/strong>Police investigate break-in at Nichols Hills home of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

New Orleans Searching For First Win of the Season<\/strong><\/p>\n

While New Orleans has struggled overall, it is holding opponents to just 33.2% from beyond the arc, fifth in the league in the category.<\/p>\n

The Pelicans are coming off a 126-124 loss to the Clippers on Kawhi Leonard’s tiebreaking shot at the buzzer after New Orleans fought back from a 17-point deficit.<\/p>\n

“(This team) is a group that’s learning each other, coming together, but they care,” Pelicans coach Willie Green said. “… We’re going to continue to get better.”<\/p>\n

Among the reasons for Green’s optimism is rookie Jeremiah Fears, who spent his lone season in college at Oklahoma.<\/p>\n

The No. 7 overall pick in this year’s NBA Draft is coming off a 13-point, eight-rebound, four-steal, no-turnover performance against the Clippers.<\/p>\n

The proximity gave Daigneault some opportunity to see Fears.<\/p>\n

“I haven’t watched him a crazy amount but just the aggressiveness – he’s quick twitch, he’s athletic, obviously, can score and touch the paint, and has a certain boldness to him that’s impressive for a young player,” Daigneault said. “There’s a reason why they took him when they did. He’ll only get better with more experience.”<\/p>\n

The Thunder swept four meetings between the teams last season and Oklahoma City has won 10 consecutive meetings, including a first-round playoff sweep in 2024.<\/p>\n

Injury Report<\/p>\n

Thunder:<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Chet Holmgren \u2013 Out (back soreness)<\/li>\n
  2. Jalen Williams \u2013 Out (wrist recovery)<\/li>\n
  3. Kenrich Williams \u2013 Out (knee)<\/li>\n
  4. Nikola Topi\u0107 \u2013 Out (medical recovery)<\/li>\n
  5. Thomas Sorber \u2013 Out for season (ACL)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Pelicans:<\/strong><\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Dejounte Murray \u2013 Out (Achilles)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      By the Numbers<\/p>\n

        \n
      1. Thunder:<\/strong> 6-0 record<\/li>\n
      2. Pelicans:<\/strong> 108 PPG (Last in NBA)<\/li>\n
      3. OKC\u2019s 3PT shooting:<\/strong> 29.6% (Last in NBA)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        What to Watch<\/p>\n

          \n
        1. SGA\u2019s streak:<\/strong> Can he make it 79 straight 20+ point games?<\/li>\n
        2. Thunder\u2019s depth:<\/strong> Who steps up with Holmgren and Jalen Williams still out?<\/li>\n
        3. Rookie Fears:<\/strong> The former Sooner returns to Oklahoma, averaging 13.2 PPG <\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

          Where and When to Watch<\/p>\n

          Matchup:<\/strong> New Orleans Pelicans at Oklahoma City Thunder<\/p>\n

          When:<\/strong> Sunday, Nov. 2nd, 2:30 p.m. CT<\/p>\n

          Where:<\/strong> Paycom Center, Oklahoma City<\/p>\n

          TV:<\/strong> FanDuel Sports Network<\/p>\n

          \ufeff<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Oklahoma City Thunder (6-0) are back at home to face the New Orleans Pelicans for a Sunday…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":350896,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[7943,7197,160296,145736,97395,3367,107738,3370,58567,6948,1260,3137,171757,137256,7859,6949,1268,171758,3371,62,148491,67,132,68,3117,171756],"class_list":{"0":"post-350895","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-chet-holmgren","9":"tag-clippers","10":"tag-dejounte-murray","11":"tag-fanduel-sports-network","12":"tag-isaiah-joe","13":"tag-jalen-williams","14":"tag-jeremiah-fears","15":"tag-kawhi-leonard","16":"tag-kenrich-williams","17":"tag-mark-daigneault","18":"tag-nba","19":"tag-new-orleans-pelicans","20":"tag-nichols-hills","21":"tag-nikola-topic","22":"tag-okc","23":"tag-oklahoma-city","24":"tag-oklahoma-city-thunder","25":"tag-sga","26":"tag-shai-gilgeous-alexander","27":"tag-sports","28":"tag-thomas-sorber","29":"tag-united-states","30":"tag-unitedstates","31":"tag-us","32":"tag-washington-wizards","33":"tag-willie-green"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115481563298978571","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/350895","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=350895"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/350895\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/350896"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=350895"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=350895"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=350895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}