OKC Thunder player grades – start east road trip with oust of Detroit

Like Westbrook, I didn’t feel Paul George made the smartest shot choices early. But also like Russ, he did what was required making key shots or passes at important junctures of the game. More importantly his defensive effort was on point.

Most of all his rebounding was off the charts as he pulled down 10 huge boards against one of the better rebounding tandems of Blake Griffin and Andre Drummond. By night’s end, he had 17 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals and was plus +24.

As the season progresses and without Andre Roberson around the talk of George garnering consideration as Defensive Player of the Year is going to grow louder!  I thought about giving PG13 an A-minus, but those 10 boards kept screaming at me  – it’s worth the “A”!