NBA playoffs: Oklahoma City Thunder push ahead late to beat Pelicans,

It wasn’t a great outing on Monday night, but the Oklahoma City Thunder got the job done.

The Thunder are now headed into the Western Conference semifinals for the first time in nearly a decade.

The Thunder used a late run to fend off the New Orleans Pelicans 97-89 in Game 4 of their opening-round playoff series on Monday at the Smoothie King Center. The win completed the 4-0 series sweep and officially sends them into the next round of the playoffs. The Pelicans, on the other hand, have now been swept for the first time since 2015.

Thunder shut down Pelicans late to complete sweep

After a tight battle through the first 36 minutes, the Pelicans appeared to be running away with the game early in the fourth quarter. They entered the period with a one-point lead, which was their first entering the final period all series, and nearly pushed it to seven points right out of the gate.

The Thunder, though, responded immediately with an 8-0 burst of their own to get right back in it, thanks largely to back-to-back 3-pointers from Josh Giddey. They quickly pushed that to a 18-2 run and held the Pelicans to just one field goal — a C.J. McCollum layup — the rest of the way. New Orleans simply shut down.

The Pelicans finished with just 18 points in the period while the Thunder held on to seal the eight-point win, which gave them their first series win since the 2015-16 campaign. They reached the Western Conference finals during that run, but were knocked out of the playoffs by the Golden State Warriors.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led Oklahoma City with 24 points and nine rebounds in the win. Jalen Williams had 24 points, 11 of which came in the fourth quarter, and eight rebounds. Giddey finished with 14 points, and he hit all four of his 3-pointers in the fourth quarter to help power the final run with Williams.

The Pelicans struggled for much of the night…