NBA Playoffs: Thunder pull ahead late to beat Pelicans, complete series win

It wasn't a great performance on Monday night, but the Oklahoma City Thunder got the job done.

The Thunder are now in the Western Conference semifinals for the first time in nearly a decade.

The Thunder used a late run to hold off the New Orleans Pelicans 97-89 in Game 4 of their playoff opening round on Monday at the Smoothie King Center. The victory completed the series' 4-0 sweep and officially sent them to the next round of the playoffs. It was their first series win since 2016 and first win since 2012. In 2016, they reached the Western Conference Finals, but were knocked out of the playoffs by the eventual champion Golden State Warriors.

The Pelicans, on the other hand, have now been swept for the first time since 2015.

Thunder shut down Pelicans late to complete the sweep

After a tough battle in the first 36 minutes, the Pelicans appeared to run away with the game early in the fourth quarter. They went into halftime with a one-point lead, their first entry into the final half of the entire series, and almost extended the lead to seven points right from the start.

However, the Thunder responded immediately with an 8-0 win of their own and got right back into the game, thanks largely to Josh Giddey's consecutive three-pointers. They quickly increased the run to 18-2 and held the Pelicans to just one field goal – a layup by CJ McCollum – the rest of the way. New Orleans simply shut down.

The Pelicans finished with just 18 points in that period, while the Thunder secured the victory with eight points.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led Oklahoma City with 24 points and nine rebounds in the win. Jalen Williams had 24 points, including 11 in the fourth quarter, and eight rebounds. Giddey finished the game with 14 points and hit all four of his 3-pointers in the fourth quarter to fuel the final run with Williams.

The Pelicans struggled offensively most of the evening while Zion Williamson – who suffered a hamstring injury in the first play-in tournament game and has been sidelined since – watched from the bench. They shot just 3 of 19 from the 3-point line as a team in the first half, and Brandon Ingram finished the game with eight points on a 2 of 14 night from the field. The Pelicans did not score more than 92 points in any of their four playoff games. Williamson wanted to return to the court later in that series, but it would have taken at least until Game 5 for him to play again if everything had gone well with his recovery. But now it doesn't matter.

McCollum led the Pelicans with 20 points in the loss, and Jonas Valanciunas had 19 points and 13 rebounds. The Pelicans shot just 8 of 34 shots from behind the arc and had 18 turnovers as a unit.

The Thunder now advance to the second round, where they will face the winner of the Los Angeles Clippers-Dallas Mavericks series. This series is tied 2-2 heading into Game 5 on Wednesday, giving them several days off before the next series begins.

While this series will definitely be much more competitive, the Thunder don't have to worry about that just yet. They secured their first series win since the Kevin Durant era, and that's all that matters.