Pelicans Forward Outright Claims They Would’ve Beaten the Thunder If Healthy in These Playoffs

Abhishek Dhariwal | 08/06/2024
Pelicans Forward Outright Claims They Would've Beaten the Thunder If Healthy in These Playoffs

The New Orleans Pelicans had a turbulent year this season. Appearing to be a lock as the fifth or sixth seed in the West, the Pelicans quickly fell down the ladder towards the end of the season with injuries to key rotational players. Their season ended with a sweep against the top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder.

However, making an appearance on the Run It Back podcast, Pelicans forward Matt Ryan had some bold claims to make. Talking about the team’s playoff performance and their matchup with the Thunder, Ryan declared that had the New Orleans side been healthy, the outcome of the series would’ve been very different.

The 27-year-old underlined Zion Williamson’s brilliant form to claim that a healthy Pelicans side had the potential to go deep into the postseason defeating the young Thunder side.

“I would like to say that if we were fully healthy, Hell yeah, we would’ve beat the Thunder and made some noise in the playoffs…I’m looking forward to seeing [Zion & Ingram] next season and coming back on a mission,” Ryan told Shams Charania and his co-hosts.

He also brought up how Brandon Ingram had also just returned to the lineup after a prolonged hiatus and wasn’t completely back in his rhythm. However, his ‘beating OKC’ argument mostly hinged on Zion Williamson’s terrific form.

With Brandon Ingram out of the lineup for a long time, the New Orleans Pelicans were led by Zion Williamson a large chunk of the season, who had assumed a new role for the team. Taking on more of a point-forward position, Zion looked out for his teammates rather than just taking the ball inside the paint.

Unfortunately for the Pels, as soon as Ingram came back from his knee injury, Williamson got sidelined with a hamstring injury during the play-in tournament game against the Los Angeles Lakers. The Pelicans went on to play the entire postseason without their leading scorer in the starting lineup.

Ryan’s argument might look ridiculous after the Pels couldn’t even salvage one game against the Thunder. But it’s not wrong to say a healthy Zion would’ve made a lot of difference in the series.

Williamson’s take on helping the New Orleans Pelicans in the playoffs

After gaining a substantial amount of weight before the season, Zion Williamson went on to shed several lbs in the middle of the season to get back in shape. Having lost the weight, Williamson did gain a quick step and explosive speed. This improved his impact on the team.

For most of the season, it was believed that Zion would help the Pelicans make a deep playoff run. However, when he found out that he might not be able to recover in time to help his team on the floor, the Pels star had this to say:

“Can’t lie. You know, the season had been going so well. So for that to happen just definitely was demoralizing. But I took a day to kind of get past that. Now I’m back on what I’ve been saying all year, stacking my days and getting back on the court.”

After their performance this season, the Pelicans have some big decisions to make. They would hope that their stars could remain healthy next season.

Post Edited By: Satagni Sikder
Zion Williamson

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Abhishek Dhariwal

A fan of Basketball since the late 2000s, Abhishek Dhaiwal has been covering the game for over five years. Having done his masters in Journalism and Mass Communication, Abhishek is an NBA sports journalist at The SportsRush. A fan of the San Antonio Spurs since the Tim Duncan era, Abhishek has an extensive knowledge of the sport and has covered more than 1500 articles. Having a firsthand experience of the sport, Abhishek has represented his city and state at a District and National level. And it is the same level of expertise he aims to bring while covering extensive topics both on and off the court of your favorite basketball stars.

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