Breaking injury news – Paul George, Jerami Grant out for game vs. Nets in Mexico City
Breaking: Paul George will not dress for the OKC Thunder game versus the Brooklyn Nets in Mexico City.
News this afternoon is Paul George will not be in the lineup tonight for the OKC Thunder game versus the Brooklyn Nets in Mexico City. As per Tim Bontemps tweet George suffered an injury to his calf in the game versus the Utah Jazz.
Making matters more intriguing is the player most likely to step in for George as the starter (Jerami Grant) is also out.
Both Paul George and Jerami Grant will be sitting out tonight with injuries. George has a calf contusion. Tough news for the NBA to have one of its stars miss tonight’s game in Mexico City.
— Tim Bontemps (@TimBontemps) December 7, 2017
This makes for a compelling game of armchair Head Coach. Will Billy Donovan move Carmelo Anthony to the small forward position? Donovan has a few options to select from. He could keep everyone in their normal positions and bring Josh Huestis in to replace George as a starter. But, with the loss of George’s defense and floor spacing Donovan may want to stick with a 3 and D type player.
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In this scenario it’s more likely the OKC Thunder head coach turns to Patrick Patterson since he’ll offer stellar defense and regardless of his current cold streak from the perimeter will still get respect from the Nets.
Hindsight may prove to be 20-20 as Patterson is due for a break out game. Historically, Patterson has been a slow starter usually finding his stroke in December. This issue was compounded by the arthroscopic knee surgery this offseason.
In a perfect world Patterson would chose to break out of his shooting slump in this game and by the time George returns Patterson would find his minutes increasing off the bench.
Case in point last season Patterson was shooting 15.1 percent through the first 12 games with the Raptors. His next eight games witnessed an explosion as Patterson went 24 of 45 for a 53 percent perimeter efficiency.
Moving forward, hopefully Paul George’s injury won’t keep him out of the lineup long.
"“We were hopeful and optimistic that they would be able to (play),” but I think just based on the treatment and the conversations with our medical staff, just figured it’s better to sit those guys.” -Donovan"
As per Donovan’s above quote the thought was both George (calf) and Grant (hip) would be able to play in Mexico City. Then again, with the high altitude it makes sense not to push either player. When a player is tired there is a tendency for them to get injured, so applying those two factors (injury/altitude) this decision makes sense.
Related: Nets expert Charles Maniego checks in for the TIP3
Given how secret the OKC Thunder camp tend to be in releasing information, we may have to wait til five minutes before tip to learn precisely who is starting.
Regardless, the OKC Thunder look to extend their win streak to four games and get back to .500 Read the full game preview for more insight to the game.