OKC Thunder In the news: Possibly craziest game of season in Denver

OKC Thunder In the news for February 2 dives into the copious story lines from one single game. Explosive offensive outputs from both squads, charity sure wasn’t at the line, Jokic and Murray were incredible, playoff style Paul George arrived and Westbrook’s crazy night ending with a fan confrontation,

Seriously, this had to be the craziest game the OKC Thunder played this season. So much to reflect back on from both sides.

Nikola Jokic:

The Joker, Nikola Jokic delivers a triple-double of 29 points, 13 rebounds and 14 assists. On initial examination of Nikola Jokic, one would never assume the center possesses the ability to pull off the feats he accomplishes. It’s on par with no players ever being able to stop Zach Randolph or in spite of how slow Boris Diaw played, the French man still delivered, getting whatever he wanted.

Suffice to say with big men like Joel Embiid, Nikola Jokic, Kristaps Porzingis and Karl-Anthony Towns to name a few the center might be the most intriguing position in the NBA.

Paul George:

This is the Paul George I’m familiar with seeing on a regular basis. Whether it was his battles versus (then Miami Heat) LeBron James or almost single handedly beating the Raptors in the post season. I’ve been expecting to see this version of Paul George all season and that my friends was what you can expect in the post season from him.

George’s 43 points on 19 of 26 from the field along with five of eight from deep, plus 5 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 steals was masterful.

The takeaway from this outing however, is it seems George is finally feeling comfortable in his OKC Thunder role. Throughout the first half of the season George appeared hesitant (which is understandable). But, finally it seems like PG13 and Russell Westbrook in particular are developing the oh so very important chemistry which comes with time.

Jamal Murray:

Alright, so given my Canadian heritage perhaps I have a bias. But, seriously does anyone in the current iteration of the NBA display more joy than Jamal Murray?

There is never any doubt of how much Murray loves basketball or how much fun he’s having. As fans we often hear players give post game sound bites on “getting back to enjoying playing“. At least from a personal perspective Murray exemplifies that quality arguably the best in the NBA. Whether he is celebrating his own prowess or his teammates it’s constant, almost child like.

I find myself smiling when I watch him just from the raw emotion he exudes. Another similar player is Kyle Kuzma who is also fun to watch on court.

Although Murray was eclipsed by Paul George’s individual efforts (and arguably his own teammate – Jokic) his efforts were none the less impressive. Murray scored 33 points on 14 of 23 field goals. He hit 5 of his 8 treys and added 3 rebounds plus 5 assists.

Murray is likely no longer on Steven Adams Christmas card list, but like my cohort Tony Heim stated, it’s going to happen and it will happen again. This is a seven foot center defending a guard.

Neither Paul George or Jamal Murray got free throws:

Despite their huge offensive productivity neither George (43 points) or Murray (33 points) got to the charity stripe. There are probably many examples of this occurring, but for two players to produce 76 points and neither one get to the line is down right strange.

Deja Vu?

Remember way back at the beginning of the season when Carmelo Anthony had seemingly won the game for the OKC Thunder against the Wolves? Then an illegal screen by Karl-Anthony Towns led to Andrew Wiggins hitting a dagger to win the game?

Granted, Paul George’s three only tied the game, but this game had an eerily familiar result as once again what appeared to be a blatant foul wasn’t called which led to the dagger game winning trey from Gary Harris.

Notice in the replay above (Towns foul) and then below (Chandler foul) the blatantly obvious fouls.

Hey, at the end of the day, we’ll be told it all evens out. For now, I’ll await the evening out phase.

Russell Westbrook’s surreal evening:

What an insane stat line – 20 points, 21 assists, 9 rebounds, 2 steals and a block. Known for not necessarily being the best ball protector Westbrook’s three turnovers represented almost half of the entire output by the OKC Thunder.

Yeah that’s right a game with a combined score of 251 points produced just 18 turnovers. seven by the Thunder and 11 by the Nuggets.

So, Russ took some shade for missing his assignment on the final inbound pass (Jokic five second count?) to Gary Harris. I debated with one of BBoyz afterwards whether Russ just blew the assignment or it was his job to protect the paint and Grant was suppose to switch out onto Harris if the pass went that direction.

In the post game report Westbrook, seemingly confirmed it was the latter.

And in the most surreal moment of the night, a fan walked up to Westbrook on the court at game end.

I’m not sure how to feel about the fact Westbrook could be fined or suspended for this incident. Was the fan in his ear all game? Could he simply be a Westbrook fan? Look at the fans hand closest to the camera – it is in a fist (not to say he wasn’t pumping it prior- just saying).

Either way the incident is sure to draw much more discussion. When players leave the courts generally they are escorted by security, so it’s odd the fan was able to reach Westbrook at all. But, the indication is the NBA will review the incident to determine if Westbrook will receive a fine or suspension. If either of the latter incidents occur, then can we please also be told what happens to the fan and to the security responsible for keeping the fans off the court.

In closing:

After watching numerous games this season where the ebb and flow of the contests were ruined by one-sided calls, bad inconsistent calls or too many calls I prefer this format. Let the players play and just call blatant calls. Sure, there was the crazy ending and yes I do think Wilson Chandler should’ve been called for the foul.

That said, with just five games on the slate tonight, three came down to the final shots and it was one of the most enjoyable nights I’ve witnessed all season.

Sure, a few of my preferred teams didn’t come out on top. But, I’d rather see overall quality basketball than games with no ebb or flow.

OKC Thunder are right back at it tonight. Check out Tony Heim’s post game grades, Gideon Lim’s Film Room (both are must reads) and coming shortly Jeremy Lambert’s game day preview, a trade suggestion from Lawrence George and the TIP 3 later this afternoon.

That wraps up in the news for February 2nd. Have a great Friday.