Thunder show 'uncommon maturity,' rout Pelicans for 3-0 lead - ESPN

NEW ORLEANS — The youngest No. 1 seed in the history of the NBA playoffs certainly isn't being hindered by its lack of playoff experience.

The Oklahoma City Thunder rolled to another dominant victory over the eighth-seeded New Orleans Pelicans on Saturday afternoon, winning 106-85 to take a 3-0 series lead.

«We just try to clear the hurdle in front of us,» Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. «That's how we've been through time, not just this season.

»And the word I've used with the team is 'uncommon' all year. I think they just have an uncommon maturity and uncommon poise, uncommon competitiveness and togetherness. And with that competitiveness, they're not just siloed competitors. They compete together. And I think that gives you confidence in stressful situations or on the road when you're doing it as part of a unit, and I really think they feel like that."

Only twice in NBA history has all of a team's points in a playoff game come from players under 25 years old: the Thunder in Game 2 and the Thunder in Game 3 of this series.

Oklahoma City has used 13 players and nine of them are playing in a playoff game for the first time. Three of the four players on the roster with the most experience in playoff games — Gordon Hayward, Mike Muscala and Bismack Biyombo — have combined for zero points through three games, with Hayward playing just over 27 minutes while the other two have yet to play.

Outside of Hayward, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Luguentz Dort and Isaiah Joe are the only other rotational players who had playoff experience before this season.

«Every experience you live through and you learn,» Gilgeous-Alexander said. «That's what we did through that experience with all 82 games this season. We learned from every