The Oklahoma City Thunder play host to the New Orleans Pelicans in the Western Conference First-Round Playoffs at Paycom Center on Thursday.

The Pelicans (49-33) suffered a tough loss in the opening game of the Play-In Tournament but bounced back by beating the Sacramento Kings in an elimination game on Friday. That earned them the eight-seed in the Western Conference, getting stellar performances from Brandon Ingram, Jonas Valanciunas and Ttey Murphy. Those guys have been good all season, but what they really need is some health for Zion Williamson. The All-star is nursing a hamstring issue and it's unclear if he'll be able to suit up in this series. It was an uphill battle before his injury but it'll be nearly impossible for New Orleans to win this seven-game series without him.

The Thunder (57-25) shocked the NBA world when they finished with the best record in the Western Conference. That was a massive goal of this team when they went into rebuild mode nearly a decade ago, and they're finally seeing some rewards from that lengthy process. Getting youngsters like Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams, Josh Giddey and Chet Holmgren has set the foundation for that rebuild, but they're much further along than anyone could've anticipated. That says a lot about this organization because getting SGA and all of those draft picks for Paul George was one of the greatest management decisions in NBA history.

These teams played three times in the regular season, with Oklahoma City winning two of three.