Paul George faces OKC Thunder for first time since trade to LA Clippers
Keys to the game.
With Paul George playing for the LA Clippers they are always going to have a strong perimeter defense, if Patrick Beverley and Kawhi Leonard recover from injury in time, the defense only gets better.
To get past this the ball movement will need to be crisp. On top of that, the OKC Thunder are going to need to take advantage of the size advantage which comes from having Steven Adams on the team.
The bench production is also key for both squads. Montrezl Harrell and Lou Williams had the highest combined points production of any duo in NBA history last season. Stopping one or both of these players is crucial. The defense of Dennis Schroder and Nerlens Noel is critical to the success of the Thunder in this game.
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While the bench match up is crucial to the outcome of the game, it is not the key matchup. That honor goes to Paul George and Danilo Gallinari. The Italian power forward is coming up big every outing. His outside shot is one of the best in the NBA, the floor spacing it provides allows for other offense to flow.
Gallinari is also adept at getting to the free throw line where he is top 10 in the NBA. He and Chris Paul combined for 23 made free throws from 23 attempts in the game against the Philadelphia 76ers. This is a franchise record for two players who attempted ten or more free throws in the same game without missing.