The Thunder entered the playoffs facing questions about their relative youth and playoff inexperience.

Four games later, the Thunder is on to the second round after a convincing sweep of the Pelicans.

“That’s another thing for us to not think about,” Thunder forward Jalen Williams said. “We’re coming in to compete — no matter how old we are.”

The average age on the Thunder roster was less than 24 years old when the playoffs began. But coach Mark Daigneault, the NBA coach of the year, has been quick to point out that youth and maturity are not mutually exclusive.

“We have a mature team. We have a committed team,” Daigneault said.

That maturity was on full display in the way the Thunder have committed to defense, holding the Pelicans to 92 or fewer points in each game of the first round.

The Thunder earned the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference by winning 57 games and edging out the defending champion Nuggets in a tiebreaker.

In the first round, the Thunder dispatched the 49-win and eight-seeded Pelicans, albeit with the Pelicans’ leading scorer, star power forward Zion Williamson, sidelined by a hamstring injury that occurred during the West play-in tournament.

Thunder shooting guard Lu Dort further bolstered his reputation as a physical defender, holding Pelicans’ high scoring wing Brandon Ingram well below his usual scoring average of nearly 21 points per game.

Ingram averaged 14.3 points, topping out at 19 points in Game 3.

Meanwhile, Thunder offensive leaders Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Williams each averaged better than 20 points per game and saw their performances complemented by steady production from Josh Giddey and rookie center Chet Holmgren.

Murray, Nuggets do it again: Jamal Murray scored 32 points despite a strained left calf and sank the game-winning shot with 3.6 seconds remaining as the second-seeded Nuggets again bounced LeBron James from the playoffs with a 108-106 win over the seventh-seeded Lakers in Game 5 of the West first-round series.

James’ two free throws tied it at 106 with 26 seconds left on Monday night in Denver. Murray then took the ball on a high screen and rolled to his left, shaking Austin Reaves as he crossed through the lane and swished a 14-footer. It was also Murray’s buzzer beater that won Game 2.

Celtics take 3-1 lead: Derrick White scored a career-high 38 points, Jayson Tatum added 20 points and 10 rebounds, and the top-seeded Celtics beat the eighth-seeded Heat 102-88 on Monday night in Miami to take a 3-1 lead in their Eastern Conference series.

The Celtics lost center Kristaps Porzingis in the first half to a right calf strain and is expected to miss several games.

Leonard out: Kawhi Leonard will miss Game 5 of the Clippers’ tight West series against the Mavericks on Wednesday night due to right knee inflammation.

The two-time Finals MVP will sit out for the third time in the series’ five games.