By Michael Doutey
The Oklahoma City Thunder take down the Memphis Grizzlies 110-92 Sunday night in Oklahoma City. It was no problem this time out for OKC without Russell Westbrook and Carmelo Anthony, who both missed their second consecutive games with ankle injuries. The Thunder dominated this game from start to finish, taking the lead midway through the opening quarter and never looking back. This was an important win for the Thunder without two of their stars as the Western Conference standings become more and more congested. This was a really nice showing from the Thunder, who really struggled last Thursday against the Los Angeles Lakers with this same look. Yes, Memphis is really bad, but the Thunder without Westbrook and Melo looked incapable of winning in LA. But the Thunder got the job done tonight and in impressive fashion. Here are tonight’s five observations.
1. Paul George was Sensational
Paul George was just excellent in this game. He did a great job of finding his spots scoring, running the offense and playing great defense. Paul really got things going in the first quarter, scoring 16 of his 33 points in the opening frame. Paul also did his fair share of running the point for OKC, sharing the load with Raymond Felton. PG dished out eight assists compared to just two turnovers. Paul also played great defense, nabbing three steals. He was peake Paul George and did an awesome job leading the Thunder to tonight’s win.
2. Si Senor!
Alex Abrines had one of his best games of this season, scoring 16 points on 4-7 shooting from three. Alex did a really nice job on both ends of the floor. Yes, even of defense. Abrines looked confident. He shot the ball as if he wasn’t second guessing himself, which has been an issue this season. This was the type of player I thought Alex would be this season. Since Andre has gone down, Abrines has stepped up his game. Also, it is interesting that he had another tremendous game against the Grizzlies. Last time out against Memphis the Thunder were down PG but had Russ and Melo. That game OKC had to win in overtime and Alex scored 20 points and connected on six of his eight three-point attempts.
3. Thunder Hot from 3
The Thunder tied a team record of most made threes in a game, going 16-37 from three. OKC got off to a really hot shooting start, connecting on their first six tries from deep which helped OKC build a big early lead. The Thunder really struggled to score against the Lakers on Thursday. It seemed like the Thunder made up for that poor shooting night by making everything today.
4. Patrick Patterson and Jerami Grant
Patterson had a horrible game in LA Thursday. So, he made up for it today by playing one of his best of the season. Patrick got the start tonight and played 35 minutes and scored 14 points on 4-6 shooting, including 2-4 from from three. He looked more relaxed and comfortable with the lineups today compared to Thursday. Also, Jerami Grant’s strong play has continued. He scored 14 points off the bench on 4-7 shooting. He got to the line a ton tonight, but only converted on half of his free throw attempts. That is an issue, but more on that in a moment. Pat and Grant were big in tonight’s win.
5. Free Throw Shooting Woes
As of the moment I’m writing this, the Thunder sit at 29th in the league in free throw percentage. I mean, that is unacceptable from a team who wants to make a playoff run. The team shooting just 70.7 percent from the line. Tonight, that issue was painfully obvious. The Thunder shot 26-40 from the line for 65 percent. That is miserable. Grant went 5-10 from the line. Adams was 1-5. That is just not good enough and that is an issue that greatly confuses me. That is something that could be the difference in advancing or not advancing a round in the playoffs.
The Thunder move to 32-25 on the season and will next be in action on Tuesday night as they host the new look Cleveland Cavaliers. Tip is set for 7 p.m. inside the Peake.
