SGA and the Thunder roll to 3-0 series lead with 106-85 win over the Pelicans

I told you early this year to look out for the Thunder. On Saturday, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 24 points and the Oklahoma City Thunder defeated the New Orleans Pelicans 106-85 in their first-round playoff series to take a 3-0 lead over the Pelicans.

Jalen Williams and Josh Giddey scored 21 points for the Oklahoma City Thunder. Top-seeded Oklahoma City hit 17 of 36 (47.2%) from 3-point range and held a lead of 10 points or more throughout the second half, going up by 24 in the fourth quarter.

The New Orleans Pelicans had a difficult time hitting from the perimeter, and they struggled to take care of the ball, as Brandon Ingram scored 19 points and CJ McCollum had 16. In their return to the home arena, the Pelicans, who had a 27.7% shooting percentage from 3-point range over the course of the first two games of the series combined, improved only marginally, shooting 28.1% (9 of 32). Also, New Orleans turned the ball over 21 times, which resulted in 23 Thunder points being scored as a result.

The eighth-seeded Pelicans, who've been without star forward Zion Williamson during the series because of his hamstring injury, will try to avoid elimination at home in Game 4 on Monday night. But even if they do, history is not on their side. No NBA team in history has recovered from a 3-0 series deficit.

My personal opinion is that after SGA led the Oklahoma City Thunder to the number one seed in the west and being the youngest team in NBA history to clinch a number one seed, there is no doubt in my mind that he deserves to be named NBA MVP.