The OKC Thunder use Paul George’s big night to grind out a 107-100 win over the Los Angeles Lakers in the City of Angels.
Despite an anemic offensive night, the OKC Thunder ground out a 107-100 win over the LeBron James-less Los Angeles Lakers. Paul George continued his scintillating form, posting 37 points (15-29 from the field, 2-11 from three, 5-7 from the line), four rebounds, four steals and two assists in 34 minutes of action.
Prior to the tip, PG13 was met with a chorus of boos with Laker fans expressing their disdain toward the small forward. As we all know, George didn’t give the Lakers a free agency meeting this past offseason and signed with the Thunder as soon as the clock struck midnight.
Formalities aside, the Thunder were sloppy in the opening half shooting terribly from the field and committing unnecessary fouls. OKC sent Los Angeles to the line 22 times in the first half alone, bailing out LA’s offensive after the Thunder held them to 43.6 percent shooting. PG13 got going in the second quarter, scoring 13 points on 6-9 shooting and 1-3 from three to power OKC to a 59-57 lead at intermission.
The play of the half came on PG13’s and-1 with Russell Westbrook trolling Lance Stephenson.
Oklahoma City came out dead flat in the third quarter, shooting a horrid 21.7 percent from the field to fall behind 78-82 entering the fourth quarter.
Then OKC’s bench came in and the game totally changed complexion.
Lead by Dennis Schroder, the Thunder went on a 12-3 run to open the fourth to turn a four-point deficit into a five-point lead. OKC’s defense stifled the Lakers attack with Nerlens Noel doing an excellent job defending the rim. Abdel Nader came up big once again scoring five points and three rebounds in six minutes of action.
Once the starters checked back in, the game was out of reach as PG13 got going and closed the game out.
Let’s take a look at the grades.