January 9th versus the Houston Rockets:
Beating your former team is always going to rank high on the to-do list. In this case, however, it would seem Paul had extra motivation to beat his old Houston Rockets team.
Since the season suspension, we’ve learned the semantics surrounding how the trade went down and what the Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey said to Paul days before.
So it’s more than understandable the point guard would want to remind Mr. Morey of what he lost when he traded the veteran away.
It was a beat down by the Thunder with the game being over by the end of the first quarter but one specific play stands out.
Paul brings the ball upcourt driving easily past Russell Westbrook. Next, he puts Isaiah Hartenstein on an island as he not only drives past the Rockets center, he nutmegs him in the process.
By the time Hartenstein realizes what happened Paul is already at the basket with PJ Tucker having no chance of stopping the Point God who completes the push shot to put the OKC Thunder up 101-75 with over seven minutes remaining in the blowout victory.
In the win, Paul registered 18 points, six rebounds, five assists, four steals, and hit three of his seven 3-point attempts.