Chris Paul refused to lose and pulled his OKC Thunder teammates back from 26 points down to steal the victory over the Bulls. Player grades offer the details.
Freshly back from a four-game road trip, the OKC Thunder entered week nine of NBA action knowing they’ll face five sub .500 teams in their next six games and have a genuine opportunity to move up the ladder.
But, nothing is ever as simple as it sounds and the Bulls arrived with plenty of confidence having split their last eight games including a win over the Clippers and three of their four losses were by a cumulative eight points (including a five-point overtime differential).
Chicago jumped on OKC and while the fatigue from the road could be cited by the same token poor first quarters is a common issue the Thunder have displayed this season. By the end of the first quarter, Chicago led 37-16 and it looked like this match might be over already.
But — BUT —- this is the Thunder who revel in fighting to be in games until the final horn and a certain veteran point guard wasn’t about to let this match slip away.
OKC was uncharacteristically sloppy with the ball and kept feeding into the Bulls’ early pressure turning the ball over. In fact, by the HALF – the Bulls had already scored 26 points off Thunder turnovers (YIKES) and led the game 68-49. At game end, the Thunder amassed 26 turnovers (a season high) and Chicago had collected 39 points off OKC turnovers (another season high).
Zach LaVine was showcasing his best self scoring 17 points in the first half alone and finishing with 39 in the game. It didn’t hurt that his club was shooting 58 percent in those opening quarters.
They always say the first game back from a road trip is the hardest to win and finding energy even more difficult. That proved to be true as every Thunder player except Danilo Gallinari couldn’t find the bottom of the net in the first half.
Coming out of the lockers however, the Thunder began to play more like themselves applying their own defensive pressure. As the third quarter progressed the tension was palpable feeling like the Thunder (and Chris Paul specifically) had the Bulls in a vice and just kept tightening it.
By the time the fourth frame arrived the Thunder had cut the deficit down to eight points. Two minutes into the fourth Lauri Markkanen connected on a two-point shot to return the Bulls lead to double digits and then Chris Paul simply took over the game.
The Point God hit back to back triples while we as fans could only sit back knowing we were witnessing something very special. Even Paul’s teammates sensed it as time after time the minute one of them got the ball the only person they looked for was Paul. Whether he was shooting or orchestrating the basket it was CP3 with his fingerprints everywhere on this game.
If you follow us you’ll know I often get salty over Dennis Schroder not passing enough but even Dennis was transfixed by the Point God immediately getting him the ball if it landed in his hands.
Five — (YES –FIVE) 3-pointers later from Paul in the final frame capped the inexplicable 26-point comeback as the Thunder once again arrived to clutch time with an opportunity to win. By this point, the momentum had so completely shifted the win felt inevitable. That and the fact, everyone at Chesapeake and those viewing from home KNEW the Point God wasn’t going to lose this game.
If you didn’t get an opportunity to witness this legendary performance by Chris Paul and have NBA League Pass make sure you watch (especially the second half) or check out the highlights from the video below although experiencing the full third and fourth quarter would be time well spent.
With that let’s dive into the player grades.