OKC Thunder Player Grades: Paul George scorches Heat as team wins 7th in row

The OKC Thunder extended their win streak to seven behind one of the most impressive complete game victories this year and a scorching hot Paul George.

Sure looks like the South Beach sun worked its magic on the OKC Thunder who delivered one of the best complete game efforts the fanbase has witnessed this season.

Having watched several Heat games this year it was a shock to witness the Miami club in the first half of this game. OKC put up 72 points and were their best aggressive defensive selves. If not for eight points scored by the Heat in the final two minutes of the second quarter the 19 point lead (72-53) the Thunder held could’ve easily been 27.

Still, with that much of a lead, I figured this game could switch quickly given Miami’s ability to defend and Erik Spoelstra’s penchant for throwing teams off through the use of zone defense.

Dennis Schroder had arguably his best half of basketball scoring 24 points in the first half on 9 of 10 shooting from the field including four of five from deep.  Several times the team was giddily high fiving as their shots just kept falling often with the German behind the high arcing shot which repeatedly swished the net. And yet it was Paul George who led the first half scoring with 26 points of his own. Moreover, PG set an OKC Thunder record for made triples in a game hitting 10 – yeah you read that right TEN — eat your heart out Steph!

The duo of George and Schroder combined to hit 18 of 22 field goal attempts for 48 of the Thunder’s 72 first half points.

As the team exited the court they did so having shot 58.3 percent from the field, a miraculous 69.2 percent from the perimeter, were plus nine in rebounding, already had 18 assists and were outscoring Miami in the paint 32-26.

To be honest, with such an easy first half I worried the game could be one of those Jekyll and Hyde games where the team wouldn’t have the same aggression in the second half. But, by the end of the third quarter, OKC had maintained their lead building it by a single point to a 20 point margin.

The Heat was visibly annoyed by how easily the Thunder were winning which led to Dwyane Wade getting a technical following one particular play as he vocalized his frustration.

The final frame was more of the same as the OKC Thunder not only continued their assault but looked like a bunch of kids having the time of their life.

Let’s look at the individual player grades.