Justin Cooper
December 6, 2018
The Oklahoma City Thunder were bested by the Brooklyn Nets in the first three quarters of Wednesday night’s game at the Barclays Center. The Nets effort through three quarters, however, would not prove to be enough to keep the upstart Thunder out of the win column as Paul George emphatically proved the fourth quarter belonged solely to him.
The shots simply weren’t falling for the Thunder Wednesday night versus the Nets at the Barclays Center. Going into the fourth, the Nets had outscored the Thunder in every quarter, building a 93-75 advantage to open the final frame. Through three quarters, the Thunder were shooting a lowly 38.7% from the floor, 25% from three on 28 attempts, and an abysmal 58.8% from the line on 10-17 shooting. The Nets, on the other hand, had torched the Thunder all night from distance shooting 14-31 (45.2%) from beyond the arc. For their part, the Thunder were playing aggressive perimeter defense, pushing Nets possessions deep into the shot clock and forcing contested shots, however momentary lapses in discipline and stints of uptight officiating bailed Brooklyn out of several otherwise well defended possessions and even sent them to the charity stripe on three attempts from deep, two of which were converted, further exacerbating the Thunder woes.
The fourth quarter started much like the first three, Deonte Burton missed a 13 foot pull up jumper, the Thunder were unable to coral the offensive board, and Burton picked up a foul on Joe Harris on the other end of the floor where he would go on to convert two free throws, pushing the Nets lead to 20 with 11:29 remaining in the contest. Just as it seemed a loss was inevitable, the Thunder finally managed to get some stops and found some offense. Diallo converted the back end of a pair of free throws, Noel knocked down a 14 foot jumper, Schroder hit a 17 foot pull up and the Thunder had pulled back within 15. As had been the case all evening, the Nets had an answer for the Thunder run, quickly scoring two buckets of their own, pushing the lead back to 19. Ferguson found his range from the wing knocking down a three, and Adams chipped in with a layup off a Schroder assist to bring the Thunder back within striking distance at 85-99 with 7:47 remaining.
That’s when it happened. Paul George went SCORCHED EARTH all over the Nets, ruining what was an otherwise pleasant evening for the desperate Brooklyn team over the course of the next 7 minutes. With 7:11 remaining in the game, Paul George hit a three near the top of the key off of Russell Westbrook’s 15th assist of the contest, and never looked back. One of the game’s best two-way players, Paul George put on a masterful performance on the offensive end, singlehandedly erasing the Net’s advantage, reducing the deficit to a one possession lead on his 40th point of the night with 3:59 remaining. The Nets struggled to fend off the Thunder attack during the final minutes, however, the night belonged to Paul George and the feeling hanging over the Barclays Center was that everyone knew it. The Nets hit a three with 2:23 remaining, extending the lead to 5 at 112-107, but George would score the remainder of the points on the evening, answering with two free throws, grabbing the defensive rebound off a Joe Harris miss on the other end, and taking the ball the length of the court finishing with a slashing layup at the front of the rim to cut the lead to just 1 point. Coming off a timeout, with just 8 seconds remaining, Russell Westbrook passed the ball to George on the wing who pump faked the closing defender, readjusted, and coolly drained the game winner with ease, finishing with 25 points in the fourth (the Nets finished the quarter with 19 total), 47 points on the night, and a well-deserved Thunder victory for his efforts.
The shot, for George, was his first game winning bucket, and the overall performance was arguably his best stretch of basketball since dawning the Thunder blue. His 47 points completely overshadowed another freakish Russell Westbrook stat line. The MVP notched another triple-double, his 108th, leaving him now solely in possession of the third spot all time for the metric. Westbrook can add another 15-15-15 performance to his resume, turning in 21 points, 15 rebounds, and 17 assists in a win Thunder fans can chalk up to superstar performances. George’s 47 points paired with Westbrook’s stat line also puts the tandem in elite company. Following the game, ESPN pointed out that the Thunder became the second team in NBA history to have one player score 40 points and another register a 15-15-15 game. The San Francisco Warriors accomplished the feat in 1962 when Wilt Chamberlain scored 50 and Guy Rodgers had 23 points, 20 rebounds, and 17 assists.
Statistics aside, the feeling is growing that the Thunder have barely tapped their full potential with this team and, with every win, are creating separation between themselves and the pretenders while solidifying their status as legitimate title contenders. In his second year with the team Paul George is dazzling, putting up career high numbers in nearly every category, proving that he is a superstar in this league. Against the Nets Wednesday, the All-Star showed Thunder fans precisely why the organization went all in on the Paul George gamble. So far in 2018, its paying off in spades.
Sound of Thunder 