Thunder Preparing For Hostile Environment in New Orleans

Oklahoma City will test its luck on the road after jumping out to a series lead.

Oklahoma City took the first two games of its first round series against New Orleans, and the home crowd was rocking. It felt like 2012 again in the Paycom Center, as the Thunder crowd was more than excited to cheer on its young core. The Pelicans have never experienced noise like the deafening fans in Oklahoma City, and it showed in game two’s runaway victory.

The Thunder clearly benefitted from the environment, and how could you not? But now, its time for Oklahoma City to go on the road and experience the same thing the Pelicans did. Game three will come down to composure and execution. OKC has performed well on the road, but the playoffs are a different beast.

“I mean, it’s about understanding the opponent is going to be hungry,” Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault said. “The environment is going to be hostile, and that’s going to be the context of the game. You’ve gotta have great mental toughness and you’ve gotta have focus within that context to perform well enough to win that game. It’s easier said than done, but that’s our challenge.”

While there’s certainly no guarantee that the Smoothie King Center will be near as loud as the Paycom Center, it’s still important for the Thunder’s mindset to carry over. Despite being up 2-0, there’s a lot of work left to do in the series — especially for a young team that hasn’t been in this position before.

This isn’t the Thunder’s first rodeo on the road this season though, and the team’s regular season preparation has set up this moment. A few moments come to mind, like Chet Holmgren’s buzzer beater to force overtime at Golden State, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s game-winner in Madison Square Garden. This Thunder team is battle tested, and it’s time to put it to the test.

“It’s going to test us, it’s going to force us to focus through the noise — literally in executing possession by possession. But it’s not our first road game. Obviously the road playoff environments are a little more live as it was here in Oklahoma City, but we’ve performed well on the road because our team has had great focus.

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