OKC Thunder OT win had current and former players setting social media abuzz

The swag and shade were plentiful on social media following the OKC Thunder overtime victory versus the Houston Rockets.

Dwyane Wade was all about his OKC Thunder banana boat buddy as he took to social media to praise him and defend him.

The tweet he mentioned where it should’ve been a double foul was at the end of the game where James Harden and Chris Paul were tied up. In a review of the play, it’s actually James Harden that puts his elbow in CP3’s neck that takes them both down to the court.

What we don’t know is who put their arm around the other first. If it was Paul then it makes sense why the call was made. Having said that every team does this in close games at the end so it feels like the foul was made only because they did end up on the court.

Wade is correct though it should’ve been a double foul because it’s not much different than when double techs are called. One player instigates, the other stands up for himself or pushes the other off, and yet they still receive a technical foul.

Other former players were on the CP3 bus as well with Metta World Peace and Baron Davis both tweeting about the Point God.  Metta reminded fans it’s not wise to forget about someone of Paul’s ilk while Davis simply seemed appreciative of CP3’s game.

Although World Wide Wob (Rob Perez) isn’t a former player his tweet offered up one of the highlights from the night when Paul stripped the ball, managed to get his feet back inbounds to grab the ball and then shortly after delivered the step-back 3-pointer in former teammate Austin Rivers face.

In hindsight, it’s probably not a bad thing this game went to overtime, as it only serves to build the momentum of the OKC Thunder.

While Chris Paul was grabbing most of the social media headlines, it was Canadian Luguentz Dort and his lockdown defense on James Harden that had twitter blowing up. In this case it was Jazz beat writer (and Athletic writer) Tony Jones who sang the youngster’s praise.

But the best tweet about Dort might belong to Zach Harper of Talk Hoops who coined a new term:  “Dortfense”.

And our friends at Hardwood Paroxysm with the stat of the night:

Plus the main networks and media were keen to showcase some special moments by the Canadian (as we covered in our article on his defense of Harden).

Think how much more confident the team is now after completely dominating that overtime frame. Now, they can enter Game 4 knowing and believing in themselves. Had they eeked out a win at the end and not gone into overtime they’d be confident but not as much as they will be with this victory.

To that end, Sports Center delivered some stat facts

https://twitter.com/SportsCenter/status/1297346370899238912

Nets Sixth Man, Spencer Dinwiddie was all about Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and his cold-blooded 3-pointer that put the Thunder up at game end and eventually was the reason overtime occurred.

Not surprisingly, former OKC Thunder turned TV media star Kendrick Perkins was all about the overtime win. Perk has consistently supported the Thunder as well as Dennis Schroder for Sixth Man this season and his tweet spoke to both of those facts.

More from Thunderous Intentions

• Stealing one player from every Southwest Division team for the OKC Thunder
• Should the OKC Thunder chase after a disgruntled hometown hero?
• 3 OKC Thunder players who can step up in Aleksej Pokusevski’s absence
• Aleksej Pokusevski sidelined approximately 6 weeks with ankle injury
• Damian Lillard does not fit with the OKC Thunder

On the other side of the court, Donovan Mitchell sent out props to former Jazz teammate Jeff Green. Through three games he’s been the Rockets x-factor as T.I. has pointed out repeatedly.

If OKC is going to get back in this series and win it they need to account for Green who so far has been unstoppable and the most reliable Rockets player on the court. Harden is the star and will draw ample attention but now that Dort is on him, Billy Donovan needs to figure out a solution for Green.

Moving forward with so many series potentially ending today or Monday highlighting how there isn’t a lot of competitive first-round series.

If Luka Doncic can outlast the pain of that ankle to take back what was stolen by the officials in Game 1 today, the Mavericks could even the series versus the Clippers. Ditto for the Blazers on Monday versus the Lakers.

Other than those two series this series between the OKC Thunder and Rockets has the potential to be the most exciting series and go the distance. Surely the sponsors will recognize this and put the OKC Thunder – Rockets games on in prime time.

First things first, they’ll need to win on Monday. If they do expect plenty more social media fodder from the masses.