OKC Thunder player grades: failure to execute early costs at the end
Oklahoma City Thunder. PAUL GEORGE. B. . SF
After spearheading the Thunder wins George grappled with reintegrating Westbrook while maintaining the flow and scoring he’d established during the past six games.
Notably, in recent games George was the catalyst allowing the Thunder to build big leads. And, while 10 points, 5 rebounds and an assist at the half was fine – – OKC could’ve used the defensive minded PG to settle the troops and refocus them on that priority.
His final stat line while impressive (27 points, 9 rebounds, 3 assists and a block override the reality of less than stellar shooting performance. PG shot 37 percent from the field on 9 of 24 and 28.5 percent from the perimeter on 4 of 14.
Still, he was largely responsible for keying the defensive focused second half making some jaw-dropping plays.
George had a textbook block on Willie Cauley-Stein at the start of the second which led to a jump ball (that OKC won). Unfortunately, the ensuing 3-point attempt failed to fall.