The New Orleans Pelicans had plenty of chances to take the lead in the final two minutes of Game 1 of their playoff series against Oklahoma City on Sunday.

Four of them came in a 28-second span with the game tied at 90-90.

Herb Jones missed a wide-open corner 3. CJ McCollum’s 28-foot attempt went long and left. Brandon Ingram took a hurried, off-balance 3 that wasn’t close. Finally, Larry Nance Jr. put up a floater, which Oklahoma City Thunder rookie Chet Holmgren swatted.

Those shots, which were tied together by three New Orleans offensive rebounds, resulted in zero points. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander gave the Thunder the lead for good when he made a driving floater on Oklahoma City’s next trip down the floor.

“That’s the one,” McCollum said. “That’s the one we have to have. Those are the moments where you got a chance to close the door on them. We didn’t do that. Credit them. They played well and battled back, and they won the game.”

On Sunday, the Pelicans saw that they could exploit the Thunder on the offensive glass. Their 18 offensive rebounds turned into 24 second-chance points.

Their problem — as it often was during the regular season — was late-game execution. The Pelicans shot 3 of 11 from the field and committed four turnovers in the final five minutes.

“We needed to be more poised when we got those rebounds,” Pelicans coach Willie Green said. “That’s part of the plan: Go get them. We took some shots when we had 14 seconds left on the shot clock. Get the ball out and be solid. I thought we got a little sped up once we got those opportunities to shoot the ball.”

Poise under pressure was a weakness for the Pelicans in the regular season. They averaged 101.5 points per 100 possessions in “clutch” situations (last five minutes of the game with the score within five). That was the second-worst rate of any playoff team.

The precocious Thunder averaged 124.2 points per 100 possessions in the “clutch," the second-best mark in the NBA. A lot of OKC's success can be attributed to having a go-to player. Gilgeous-Alexander’s “clutch” numbers were spectacular as he scored 112 points on a sizzling 58.1% shooting while handing out 19 assists compared to six turnovers.

The Thunder predictably went to Gilgeous-Alexander when it needed to break the tie with less than one minute remaining. Gilgeous-Alexander drew a foul on McCollum and still scored. He had five points in the final 1:36, a stretch in which the Pelicans collectively scored two points.

On the Pelicans’ final possession of the game, they got the ball in McCollum’s hands. With Brandon Ingram struggling during a 5-of-17 shooting performance, Pelicans coach Willie Green drew up a play for New Orleans’ other 20-points-per-game scorer. McCollum got Thunder rookie Cason Wallace to bite on a pump fake, but his leaning 3-pointer went long.

“I thought it was cash,” McCollum said. “I missed it long. Game shouldn’t have came down to that. We had some possessions that we didn’t take advantage of.”

Late-game offense was an Achilles’ heel for the Pelicans in the regular season. To have any shot at advancing in the playoffs, they will need to be more poised under pressure.

Email Christian Clark at cclark@theadvocate.com.