No matter how deep or talented a team may be, it's difficult to succeed in the NBA – particularly in the brutally competitive Western Conference – with your best players sidelined by injury. It's a harsh lesson the New Orleans Pelicans learned last season, and one the Oklahoma City Thunder are experiencing early in 2014-15. The Pelicans and Thunder meet for the first time this season on Tuesday, inside the Smoothie King Center.
Playing without the superstar duo of Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook during the first month of this regular season, Oklahoma City posted just three wins in its first 15 games. Although Durant and Westbrook began practicing just before Thanksgiving, OKC had dug itself a significant early hole in the standings. The Thunder were already eight-plus games behind each of the West's top four teams, unable to compensate for the absence of two of the NBA's premier scorers.
Westbrook made his season debut Friday vs. New York and flourished in a win. Durant could be back in uniform soon, as he recovers from a stress fracture in his foot.
In their absence, Oklahoma City has been led by Reggie Jackson and Serge Ibaka. Along with Durant and Westbrook being impacted by injury, the Thunder have also sporadically been without Perry Jones, Jeremy Lamb and former New Orleans player Anthony Morrow.
The Pelicans have been a much healthier team so far in 2014-15 compared to a season ago, but they have not gone unscathed. Eric Gordon (left shoulder subluxation) is out indefinitely, causing New Orleans to shuffle its starting lineup, while Omer Asik (lower back pain) missed the team's entire recent four-game West road trip. Fortunately for the Pelicans, they managed a 2-2 split, beating Sacramento and Utah.
Intriguing matchup: Power forward, Anthony Davis vs. Serge Ibaka
Scoring-minded players in Tuesday's game beware: These two players ranked 1-2 in the NBA's shot-blocking leaders a season ago. Davis, who swatted 2.82 shots per game in 2014-15, has taken his love of rejection to a new level, averaging 3.50 in New Orleans' first dozen games. Ibaka was ranked seventh through Nov. 24 in the statistic.