MAUL OF AMERICA
The Thunder didn't find a win in Minnesota, losing 131-120
MINNEAPOLIS – The Thunder had a rare stop, Abdel Nader swatting Minnesota's Derrick Rose. Coming down on the fast break, Paul George had a chance to strike for a punishing 3 and the opportunity to cut the Thunder's deficit to single digits. George missed. George can't win games on his own every night. On Tuesday, a single-digit deficit for the Thunder in a 131-120 loss to Minnesota was as rare as the elite play the NBA world has grown accustom to seeing from George. George, playing for the first time since missing three consecutive games with right shoulder soreness, didn't look himself until it was too late for the Thunder. George finished with 25 points, but it came on a laborious 25 shots. What George excels at as well as any wing player in the NBA is getting out on the fast break and hitting 3-pointers. The Thunder only had six fast break points Tuesday. George averages 4.6 per game. Russell Westbrook had to carry a load in the Thunder's fifth loss in six games, and was efficient, scoring 38 points, including 5-of-10 from 3, and pulling down 13 rebounds.
At times, George looked his old self, deflecting passes and hounding the ball, but he was apprehensive to get into too much contact. George mostly gets a mulligan. He's carried the Thunder for most of the season with his play on both ends. While he shot making would have been valuable in stopping the Thunder's skid, what doesn't get a pass is the Thunder's inability to put together consistent stops or simply make free throws during any juncture where the game became a contest. The Thunder shot 18-of-31 from the free throw line. Westbrook cut the game to 10 points with a three-point play with 3:09 remaining, then to nine on a knifing layup in transition. But Steven Adams two critical misses with 2:46 remaining and a chance to cut the T-Wolves' lead to eight. On defense, George then had a one-on-one opportunity to defend Andrew Wiggins, but Wiggins slipped past him, a play George normally can make with his stout body and lateral quickness. Wiggins missed the drive against the Thunder's help, but the defensive rotation meant there was no body on Karl-Anthony Towns. The Thunder was outrebounded 52-45. By the end of the game, Towns was receiving “MVP” chants en route to a dominant performance over Adams. Towns had 41 points and 14 rebounds, including an emphatic put-back dunk after Wiggins' miss and another against a scrambled Thunder defense as the game unraveled in the final minute. In the second unit, the Thunder was outscored 40-29, with Minnesota's Derrick Rose continually exploiting his size advantage over Dennis Schroder for 19 points. The scariest part for the Thunder is George's rhythm. After Sunday's win against Memphis, coach Billy Donovan talked about needing to establish an offensive identity without George. The Thunder made a minor step Tuesday, rallying from a 2-of-7 start from 3-point range to finish 18-of-46. But George's rhythm is just as important to the Thunder's defense, which seemingly found some stability Sunday, only to backslide. A team that was once heavily reliant on Westbrook has become heavily reliant on George.