The New Orleans Pelicans fell 117-112 to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday evening and one strongly sensed a loss was in the cards about midway through the second quarter.
With a little over six minutes left on the clock before halftime, Aaron Wiggins nearly came up with a steal of Josh Hart on three separate occasions during the same New Orleans possession — displaying precisely the greater amount of tenacity and fight by OKC through most of the first half.
Lu Dort and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, in particular, were defensive monsters, hounding the Pelicans into multiple turnovers that led to easy scores for the Thunder.