Chet Holmgren was dominant, but he might not even have been the Thunder’s MVD — most valuable defender.

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With 40 seconds left in the first quarter, the Pelicans’ Brandon Ingram somehow got loose from Luguentz Dort and, instead of dashing out the arena doors and sprinting to the mighty Mississipp to catch the first riverboat out of town, tried to score over the Thunder’s Chet Holmgren. Holmgren blocked Ingram’s valiant but misguided field-goal attempt, leading to a shot-clock violation.

With 3:35 left in the second quarter, Trey Murphy III drove to the basket, where Holmgren blocked his shot into the hands of teammate Josh Giddey, leaving Murphy to wonder why he didn’t just stay outside the 3-point circle, where his shots are less susceptible to rejection.

With 4½ minutes left in the third quarter, Murphy went searching for a medal of valor and drove in for a dunk over Holmgren. Yep, batted away, leading to a jump ball that the Thunder won.

With 5:44 left in the game, the Thunder up 21 points and Holmgren still in the game because Mark Daigneault is a diabolical deviant, C.J. McCollum drove the baseline and tried to shoot over Holmgren. The 7-foot-1 phenom swallowed the shot like a seal gulping down those little fishies in the aqua shows.

Every Holmgren blocked shot stayed in bounds, gave the ball to the Thunder and was followed on the subsequent possession by Thunder points. 

And after the Thunder’s 106-85 rout of the Pelicans on Saturday in New Orleans, Daigneault scanned Holmgren’s less-than-gaudy stat line — six points, eight rebounds, 2-for-8 shooting — and declared Holmgren “outstanding.”

“I thought he dominated his minutes,” Daigneault said. “I mean, he was a difference-maker in the game … especially at the rim. Did an incredible job.”

No Thunder player has done more to roast these birds than Lu Dort. The Pelicans don’t have a way to negate him on the defensive end, and Saturday, they didn’t stop him from big plays on offense. From @JenniCarlson_OK: https://t.co/43fwsj0zxR pic.twitter.com/OOg30YB3ur

— Sellout Crowd (@selloutcrowd_) April 28, 2024

But here’s how crazy this Thunder-Pelicans series has turned, with OKC up three games to none and New Orleans appearing to give up the ghost: Holmgren might not even have been the Thunder’s MVD — most valuable defender.

Ingram popped Jalen Williams in the eyeball 20 seconds into the game, and Santa Clara missed most of the first quarter. But rookie Cason Wallace subbed in for Williams, took on the job of guarding McCollum and helped the Thunder put the kibosh on any New Orleans hope for a quick start. The Pels made eight of 22 first-quarter shots and scored just 19 points.

“Caso’s special,” Williams said. “Everybody kind of seeing it now, because we’re on the national scene, but that’s something that we’ve known since training camp. That’s not really a shock to me or anybody on the team.”

Dort is an evergreen candidate. His defense on Ingram has been textbook in this series, and though Ingram was at least efficient Saturday, making seven of 14 shots, he scored but 19 points.

This New Orleans team needs at least 29 from Ingram to hang with the Thunder, and 39 might be more like it. Ingram seems more tired of Dort than Jean Valjean was of Inspector Javert.

Giddey called Dort’s defense “contagious. When you see a guy like that fighting through screens, contesting shots, doing things like that, other guys want to do it as well. He sets the tone on that end of the floor … a lot of the defensive stuff stems from Lu.”

And there’s always the overlooked defense of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the NBA’s steals leader this season. Gilgeous-Alexander had four steals Saturday, including perhaps the game’s most important play.

With the Thunder up 58-46 in the final 15 seconds of the first half, the Pelicans had the ball with a chance to get within a psychologically-better nine or 10 points. Instead, SGA tapped the ball away from McCollum, headed out on a fast break and was fouled with 2.7 seconds left. He sank two free shots to give OKC a 60-46 lead.

New Orleans had 20 turnovers, leading to 23 Thunder points.

The Thunder defense is dominating this series. The Pelicans have scored less than 20 points in a quarter more times (four) than they’ve scored more than 25 (three), with a high of 28.

“They’re a good defense for a reason,” said Pelicans coach Willie Green. “To beat this team, we have to be really sound in our execution. 

“When we’re not, and we’re getting into the paint and trying to throw interior passes, they’re really good. They’re handsy. All their guys, this is what they do. They’ve done it all season. It’s hurt us.”

The Pels scored 92 points in each of the first two games of this series, then was on pace for a three-peat, with 46 at halftime on Saturday. But New Orleans managed just 39 in the second half.

The Pelicans scored 19 points in the final 16 minutes. They’ve won just one quarter in the series; 24-20 in the fourth period of Game 1.

Not since the Spurs opened the 2016 Western Conference playoffs with a four-game sweep of the Grizzlies has a team failed to reach 93 points in any of the first three games of a series. Those Grizzlies scored 74, 68 and 87 in the first three games against San Antonio.

That was eight years and 119 NBA playoff series ago. 

So take your pick. Holmgren, Dort, Wallace, SGA. Lots of candidates for the Thunder’s MVD.

Wallace? “I thought Cason going in and playing those minutes like he did … when the place was live at the beginning and the game was a little frantic, and I thought Cason’s poise, that was quietly an important stretch of time for us. Kind of stabilized us. He’s done that all year. I wasn’t surprised, but I was impressed.”

Dort? “He’s just a competitive monster, plain and simple,” Daigneault said. “He never ceases to amaze us. He’s been like this from the beginning, But he’s sustained it through experience and success and another contract. He’s the same competitor he was when he was a G League player his first month as a professional.”

SGA? Lost in his offensive brilliance is the truth that he was billed coming into the league as a potential defensive star, and Gilgeous-Alexander’s defensive responsibilities and reputation would be much higher if it weren’t for playing alongside Dort and Williams.

Holmgren? He’s been everything Sam Presti could have hoped for, when he made the 7-foot-1 Gonzagian the No. 2 pick in the 2022 draft. “They’ve got Holmgren down there, when you do break the paint and get into the lane,” Green said. “He’s down there and he’s altering shots or blocking shots. We have to understand, this is what they do. They protect the paint.”

And now this Thunder defense is one win away from taking its show to the Western Conference semifinals.