Thunder's Bench Mob Torches the Under in Preseason Stunner

The under looked bulletproof on paper—OKC sitting their entire starting five, preseason rust, camp bodies running wild. Instead, we got 226 combined points and a Pelicans 116-110 victory that torched DarkHorse's under 225.5 by half a point. Sometimes the basketball gods just laugh at your logic.

New Orleans did exactly what we expected, managing starter minutes and letting their depth chart breathe. The Pelicans still found enough offensive rhythm to post 116, suggesting their second unit came ready to prove something in the opener. But the real surprise? Oklahoma City's skeleton crew didn't just show up—they put up 110 points without a single rotation regular. Those "camp bodies and two-way players" we banked on bricking their way to 95 points apparently had other plans, shooting well enough to keep this competitive deep into garbage time.

The miss stings because the logic was sound: rest everyone, watch the offense sputter. But preseason basketball is chaos in a bottle, and when benches get extended run, sometimes guys play loose and find unexpected scoring grooves. OKC's reserves exceeded every reasonable expectation, and 226 total points later, we're left shaking our heads. Preseason gonna preseason.