The Thunder slowly saw their 20-plus point lead disappear. Trey Murphy III and Jeremiah Fears led a comeback attempt. The Pelicans scored 32 points in the frame. Meanwhile, OKC couldn't muster up decent offense as the bench lineup committed bad shot attempts or avoidable turnovers.

Chet Holmgren scored 26 points and grabbed nine rebounds, and the Oklahoma City Thunder raced to an early double-digit lead they maintained throughout in a 126-109 victory over the reeling New Orleans Pelicans on Monday night.

You can call it an underwhelming start because of the excellence of this Oklahoma City Thunder team. Two double-overtime games, not playing up to the team's ca

The Pelicans (2-12) scored the first basket of the game -- an early 16-footer by rookie Jeremiah Fears -- and then never led again as they lost their sixth consecutive game. New Orleans is 0-2 since Saturday, when head coach Willie Green was fired and replaced with interim coach James Borrego.

BOTTOM LINE: Oklahoma City hosts Golden State trying to extend its four-game home winning streak. Oklahoma City went 68-14 overall, 39-13 in Western Conference action and 36-6 at home during the 2024-25 season. The Thunder averaged 120.5 points per game while allowing opponents to score 107.6 last season.

Simply having Shai Gilgeous-Alexander on the floor alongside a group of any Thunder role players is enough to win 90% of their games. Mark Daigenault is a phenomenal coach who has instilled great defensive principles and a culture of work ethic and energy for all 82 games, which allows OKC to win on the margins even when short-handed.

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