They once shared a franchise. Now New Orleans and Oklahoma City share the pain of facing the postseason missing a critical piece.

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OKLAHOMA CITY — The New Orleans Pelicans scored 92 points Sunday night in Game 1 of their NBA playoff series against the Thunder.

Then the Pelicans did the same in Game 2 Wednesday night.

Thus the Pelicans go back to New Orleans down 2-0 in the best-of-seven series. Their offense is in shambles; only the Magic, twice, has scored so low in these NBA playoffs. Orlando scored 83 on Cleveland in Game 1, then 86 in Game 2.

To their credit, the Pelicans didn’t make many excuses for their futile offense in Oklahoma City this week.

Oh, New Orleans coach Willie Green blamed Thunder flopping for the eight offensive fouls against the Pelicans in their 124-92 loss Wednesday night. But that’s gamesmanship as much as anything; try to plant some seeds for the whistles on Saturday afternoon, when the Pels will try to bust past 92 points. The Thunder has not scored that low in 84 games this season.

New Orleans ruffian Jonas Valanciunas said the Pelicans must get more physical.

“They were aggressors,” Valanciunas said. “We didn’t expect them to play that hard. It’s not acceptable. It was a shame today. It sucks losing. More, losing like that.”

At least Valanciunas showed some spirit. Pelican sharpshooter Brandon Ingram seemed defeated, both on the court and in the locker room.

“Time for us to be together a little bit more,” Ingram said, referencing the Thunder’s collegial and enthusiastic ways. “We can’t splinter.”

Ingram didn’t engender much confidence that the Pels could recover.

But to the Pelicans’ credit, they didn’t fall back on the best excuse for their 2-0 hole: Zion Williamson’s void.

Zion, half Charles Barkely, half LeBron James, suffered a hamstring injury in New Orleans’ play-in loss to the Lakers last week. Zion limped off the court with 3:13 left, in a tie game in which he had scored 40 points. The Lakers outscored New Orleans 15-11 the rest of the way to secure the 7-seed.

In OKC this week, Zion said he hopes to return to these playoffs, but he doesn’t appear close to full health, and making it back for the Thunder, even if the series extends to six or seven games, seems unlikely.

So the Thunder caught a major break.

Zion is an offensive force. In 185 NBA games, Williamson has averaged 24.7 points a game and made 59.2% of his shots. Plus, Zion gets to the foul line frequently; 7.9 per game during his career.

If the Pelicans had Zion available, the ripple-down effect would be vast. The Thunder likely would assign Jalen Williams the duties of guarding Zion, who is 6-foot-6, about Williams’ height. But Zion outweighs Santa Clara by a listed 89 pounds (284-195). Ouch.

If Williams is guarding Zion, then Shai Gilgeous-Alexander likely would be dispatched to C.J. McCollum, a crafty veteran who is much more a threat to draw fouls than is Trey Murphy, Gilgeous-Alexander’s primary assignment.

Or maybe Luguentz Dort shifts over to McCollum, with SGA taking on the similarly-built (but taller) Ingram, who would be quite thrilled to be rid of Dort.

Or maybe Dort, a bull himself, gets Zion, leaving SGA and Santa Clara to sort out McCollum and Ingram.

No matter the verdict, you can see the problem. With Zion, the Pelicans aren’t just more potent, they are much more problematic.

Of course, New Orleans loses something on defense when Zion plays. You’ve seen the long-armed wings that the Pelicans deploy. Herb Jones, Ingram, Murphy. Zion can plug the lane some, but he would have difficulty staying in front of drivers SGA, Josh Giddey and Santa Clara.

Still, that’s a trade the Thunder gladly makes. The Boomers are blessed by Zion’s absence. This collection of Thunders doesn’t necessarily know the history, but fans and the front office do. Playoff health has not always fallen on the side of the Scissortail.

In 2013, the Thunder was the Western Conference No. 1 seed and was coming off an NBA Finals appearance. Then Patrick Beverley ran into Russell Westbrook in Game 2 of a first-round series, we all went scouring to learn about this strange new word, meniscus, and soon enough the Grizzlies eliminated OKC in a five-game semifinal.

In 2014, Serge Ibaka missed the first two games of the West finals against the Spurs, and San Antonio won in six.

In 2015, a superb Thunder roster was ravaged by injuries — Kevin Durant and Westbrook missed a combined 70 games; every starter missed at least 12 — and OKC lost a tiebreaker for the eighth and final playoff spot.

Jonas Valanciunas scored 11 points in the first 2½ minutes of the game, but Chet Holmgren quickly caught Valanciunas and dominated the game.

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So there will be no songs of sorrow on the Pelicans’ behalf. Line up and play with whoever you’ve got.

Besides, having Zion on your roster means taking the bad with the good. Zion is habitually hurt. In five NBA seasons, Zion has missed (210) more games than he’s played (185).

That’s part of the package. Size, skill and undependability.

“Man, I love hooping. I really love hooping,” Zion said this week. Watching the Pelicans play in Oklahoma City “was bittersweet for me, because the whole time, I kept envisioning myself out there, my impact on the game.”

The Pelicans, of course, have played without Zion enough to know the drill well. He appeared in 70 games this season, a marathon for him. A variety of injuries have made his games count 24, 61, 0, 29 and 70 over five seasons.

Zion missed the Pelicans’ play-in tournament game last season vs. OKC, so that Laker showdown last week is his lone postseason game in the NBA.

“Super demoralizing at first; can’t lie,” Williamson said. “The season had been going so well, so for that to happen, definitely demoralizing. Took a day or two to kind of get past that. Now I’m back on what I’ve been saying all year. Stacking my days and getting back on the court.”

This is NBA life. The Sixers have a hobbled Joel Embiid. The Bucks are without Giannis Antetokounmpo. The Knickerbockers don’t have Julius Randle. The Clippers were without Kawhi Leonard for Game 1 against Dallas.

And the Pelicans are without Zion.

Good for the Thunder. OKC was a blessed team this season; its five primary starters missed a combined 23 games.

Good health is not assured. The Thunder will be on the wrong side of injury in some upcoming playoff series, either this season or in the future. Take advantage of it now, knowing what goes around comes around.