Back to the Western Conference Finals

The two teams' play in the opening minutes tonight couldn't have been more different.

For the Pelicans, their outside shots simply wouldn't fall, whether they had an open look or not. It wasn't until six and a half minutes into the First Quarter that Holiday hit their first three-pointer of the game.

By then, the Pelicans had made just one of nine attempts from beyond the arc, an 11% shooting rate.

The Thunder, by contrast, had made four of six three-point attempts by the same point, shooting 66%.

That enormous gap led to an enormous difference in the score.

The Thunder's offense was as steady as ever. As the game went on, the Pelicans' inability to get their offense going also dragged down their defense, which fell well below its usual standard. That only made the Thunder even more efficient.

Under those circumstances, the Pelicans grew more and more listless.

Their role players couldn't hit their shots, and the scoring depended entirely on Butler driving to draw fouls and Holiday, the only other player who was on form tonight. They had no chance of winning.

By the end of the First Quarter, the score stood at 39–21, with the Thunder holding a massive 18-point lead after one quarter.

New Orleans had already lost the momentum!

What was interesting was that everyone assumed the Pelicans would fare even worse against the Thunder's bench, given how terribly their starters had played.

But the Pelicans' rotation actually did pretty well tonight.

Lou Williams seemed to have seen what people online were saying about him. Perhaps he was annoyed and wanted to prove himself, because he put up some very impressive numbers on offense tonight.

They say one reliable trick can take you everywhere. Lou Will relied on his pull-up mid-range jumper after the