The third of Oklahoma City Thunder center Chet Holmgren’s four Game 3 blocks came within the fading competitive moments Saturday against the New Orleans Pelicans.
Through three games, down 3-0 in their first-round series, the Pelicans have an offensive rating of 94.7, the worst of all 16 teams in the playoffs. They’ve finished at 85, 92 and 92 points, their second-fewest and third-fewest outputs of the entire season.
But this was a chance to generate some momentum. They were down only 10 with 4:40 left in the third quarter. Josh Giddey fell to the floor after a miss, allowing the Pelicans to push it in an advantageous transition scenario. CJ McCollum flipped it over to Trey Murphy III, who was able to glide right past Luguentz Dort because Dort was forced into a scramble closeout.
Murphy, a noted leaper, had a runway and has never been shy about attempting to dunk on someone, so he went for the tomahawk on Holmgren, who stoned it. The rebound trickled off the rim to Jalen Williams. Another Thunder defensive stop.
That wasn’t just Holmgren’s third block of the game. It was his 10th of the playoffs and 200th in his rookie season. He finished the regular season with 190, second behind only the San Antonio Spurs’ Victor Wembanyama. Besides Wembanyama, the ultimate outlier, those 190 were the most blocks in a rookie season since Tim Duncan in 1997-98.
But it’s about more than the raw number. Holmgren is a constant paint presence. His 8.6 field goal attempts defended at the rim per game this season, per NBA.com/Stats tracking data, were third-most behind the Philadelphia 76ers’ Joel Embiid and the Milwaukee Bucks’ Brook Lopez. On those attempts, Holmgren held opponents to 52.4 percent, the second lowest among the top-10 rim protectors by volume.
There’s a mental impact that has on an opposing offense. They either become deterred from testing the limits or demoralized when it doesn’t work out. The Thunder allowed the seventh-fewest paint points per game this season (47) and held opponents to the lowest percentage (60) of any defense within 5 feet of the rim. The Pelicans — and, in particular, Murphy — have been reminded of this at pivotal moments of this series.
Below is another advantageous possession Holmgren snuffed out in Game 3. The Pelicans get Giddey scrambling back to Murphy after hedging on a Brandon Ingram high screen late in the first half. Ingram attacked Giddey in space and got past him with a lefty dribble. He entered Holmgren territory and went for the two-foot load-up and two-hand dunk, which Holmgren denied. The Thunder fast break the other direction and continued what would develop into a game-changing 14-0 run.
All the Thunder’s core players have put their imprint on their first playoff series together. Holmgren’s signature possession came in the narrow Game 1, a result that could’ve changed the tenor of the series if the Pelicans snuck it out in Oklahoma City.
The score was tied at 90 with 64 seconds left coming out of a timeout. The Pelicans dialed up a McCollum-Larry Nance Jr. pick-and-roll with Holmgren as Nance’s defender. McCollum hit Nance in the pocket, and Holmgren recovered to scare Nance away from the back-side lob (with some help from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander). Holmgren then pivoted and reloaded for a long-armed block of Nance’s floater. This might be the most important defensive stand of the series.
Below is Holmgren’s first block in Game 3. It came late in the first quarter. Ingram got some rare separation from Dort and attacked Holmgren downhill on the drive, giving him a powerful shoulder bump that typically gives great wing scorers the separation needed to finish at the rim.
Holmgren, however, took the contact in stride and was still able to volleyball Ingram’s layup off the glass. But the more impressive part of the possession comes after. It ricocheted over to Nance with two seconds on the shot clock. He presumably knew the urgency of the situation but couldn’t find any window to get up a shot over Holmgren, so Nance threw a feeble pass out toward the perimeter as the shot clock evaporated.
There are stiffer interior tests for Holmgren waiting down the line. If the Thunder advance and face the Dallas Mavericks in the next round, he’d be protecting against the devastating Luka Dončić probe-and-lob game while also dealing with Kyrie Irving’s acrobatic finishing. If there’s a date with the Denver Nuggets down the line, the power of Nikola Jokić, the brilliance of his baseline lob connection with Aaron Gordon and the danger of Jamal Murray in the pick-and-roll await.
But the only playoff test so far has been the Pelicans and, despite some team-wide rebounding issues, Holmgren and the defense he anchors are passing it impressively.
(Photo of Chet Holmgren and Jonas Valančiūnas: Alonzo Adams / USA Today)
