Josh Giddey was relegated to the bench for crunch time in his NBA playoffs debut as top-seeded Oklahoma City were almost run down by an undermanned New Orleans.
The Australian third-year point guard played just 20 minutes and wasn't sighted in the final 10 minutes of a see-sawing, first-round Western Conference meeting with the Pelicans.
After 20 lead changes and 11 ties the Thunder prevailed 94-92, CJ McCollom's off-balance effort to win on the buzzer missing for the eighth-seeded visiting side who were without leading scorer Zion Williamson (hamstring).