Thunder beats Jazz
OKC dominated Utah, 122-113.
The last time the world saw Paul George against the Utah Jazz, he was on his way to the worst shooting performance of his playoff career.
On Monday, he continued his way into the Most Valuable Player conversation in a 122-113 win.
“I think you’d be hard pressed right now to find guys that are playing at a higher level than he is,” Thunder coach Billy Donovan said.
A big reason for George’s brilliance, though, comes down to the depth of talent at the Thunder’s disposal this season.
When it faced the Jazz in April in a six-game exit from the first round of the playoffs, George was tasked with defending 3-point ace Joe Ingles, and had to occasionally take his turns on rookie sensation Donovan Mitchell.
The same happened Monday, but George exploded for a gamehigh 31 points on just 10 shots, MVP chants ringing from the Chesapeake
Energy Arena crowd as he stepped to the free throw line in a runaway third quarter.
It’s not just that George is heating up, hitting 10-of-12 foul shots and 5-of-6 3-pointers. It’s hyper efficiency birthed by the extended stretches George or Russell Westbrook don’t have to carry the Thunder’s scoring on both ends.
“It does a lot,” George said of the Thunder having newcomers like free agent signing Nerlens Noel, second-round pick Hamidou Diallo and trade arrival Dennis Schroder on this year’s team.
“It allows us to put energy elsewhere and it gives us a break. We count on those guys and lean on those guys and vice versa.”
George wasn’t surrounded by those guys in April when he exited the playoffs via a 2-of-16 shooting performance, 0-of-6 from 3, and just two free throw attempts.
Diallo, Noel and Schroder combined for 40 points on Monday, all three contributing as the Thunder extended its lead to 16 in the start of the second quarter.
Another Thunder player, Terrance Ferguson, played just six minutes in the playoffs. He arguably did the best job of guarding Utah super-sophomore Donovan Mitchell on Monday.
In the third quarter, Donovan gave a slight headshake. Ferguson knew he’d left Mitchell open in the corner. A few possessions later, Ferguson cut Mitchell off driving baseline to force a turnover.
The Thunder was off to a 40-29 third quarter which allowed George, who exploded for 17 points in the third, to sit out the fourth.
“It reminds me kind of Game 5 when they went on that run, but for the whole game they were like that,” Mitchell said, conjuring up images of the Thunder’s 25-point rally against Utah in the playoff series.
“They set the tone immediately.”
Mitchell finished with a team-high 19 points, but none were easy, not even when Ferguson went to the bench with two fouls in the first quarter.
The Thunder brought on Schroder and switched George onto Mitchell. George is also in the early conversation for Defensive Player of the Year. The league leader in steals added four to his tally on Monday, and another marquee game to his ledger.
This Thunder team is better than the one that was blasted out of Salt Lake City. So is George.
“If that happens at the end of the year, so be it,” George said of the MVP. “Right now, I’m enjoying playing with this group. We’ve got a special group here.
“We want to win. We want to win big. That’s first and foremost. Anything else after that is appreciative, but that’s not the concern.”