Paul George had a tough time returning to Indiana, but the Oklahoma City Thunder are still fighting for victory. The Boston Celtics are back on the road to success, while the Chicago Bulls continue their series. Even the Houston Rockets didn’t give each other any paws and won their eleventh game at a time.
The great story of this game was of course the return of Paul George to Indianapolis. And it went as expected. The Pacers didn’t play a tribute video for their former star, which only very few in Bankers Life Fieldhouse would have wanted. PG-13 was ruthlessly booed out and it seemed to unsettle the forward. Already during the break he had collected 4 turnovers. After the change, there was no more, but the litter did not fall. George scored only 12 points (3/14 FG) and 5 assists.
Although he was the top scorer of the Pacers with 19 points, he needed 26 throws and discarded eight of his nine threes. This was also due to George, who defended Oladipo particularly fiercely in the final phase. It was a game of ups and downs. No team was able to play consistently well, so there were always runs in one direction and the other.
It was only in the fourth quarter that OKC managed to break away a little and took a two-digit lead. In the next five minutes, however, only a meager six points were added, which caused the Thunders to tremble once again. In the end it was George who eliminated the last doubts with two free throws 10 seconds before the end.
Russell Westbrook booked his ninth triple double of the season, but he will certainly not boast of that. The MVP scored only 10 points (3/17 FG), but picked up strong 17 rebounds and played 12 assists. Carmelo Anthony (12.4/14 FG) also had little contact with each other. But Thunder coach Billy Donovan could rely on Steven Adams, who couldn’t be stopped by the Pacers under the basket. The New Zealander grabbed 9 offensive rebounds and also scored 23 points.
In the duel between two bagged teams, the Clippers had their longer breath. After Doc Rivers’s team only turned eight of their first 30 throws into a 12-point gap, they woke up and turned the game into a 14-0 run in the second quarter. The main protagonists were Lou Williams and Austin Rivers, who met four threesomes in this phase.
For Rivers, however, the game ended a little later. He collided with Jonathon Simmons’ elbow (20) shortly before the break and never returned. After the game, the suspicion of a concussion was confirmed. The coach’s son will definitely be missing in the next game of the Clippers.
But even without Rivers the guests could rock the game home. Orlando took the lead again in the middle of the third quarter thanks to Nikola Vucevic (14 points, 12 rebounds), but the Clippers had the right answer with Sweet Lou and didn’t give the lead until the end. Williams came from the bank again, but still scored 31 points (11/22 FG) and 8 assists.
Milos Teodosic threw again weak, but got 8 points (2/9 FG), 6 rebounds and 6 assists. DeAndre Jordan once again delivered a strong double-double with 16 points and 20 rebounds. Mario Hezonja caught Orlando’s attention at his second start of the season. The Croatian scored 17 points and took 9 rebounds.
They almost did it again and lost a comfortable lead against a weaker team, but this time the Wizards got away with a black eye. After a few minutes in the third quarter, the lead was 17 points. Ben McLemore’s threesome at the beginning of the final section, however, brought the game back into balance (62:62).
The returnee, John Wall, didn’t like that either:”We have these tours, but we miss shooting such teams out of the hall,”the Point Guard rightly stated. With 13 points (6/15 FG) and 4 assists the playmaker took it easy.
However, Washington should also be remembered for coming back to work after the equalisation and responding with a 12-0 run. Memphis came back to three points, but Bradley Beal countered with a threesome just over two minutes to go. The Shooting Guard was also the top scorer of his team with 18 points (6/14 FG). Coming from the bank, Kelly Oubre delivered another 11 points.
And Memphis? They played a catastrophic first half. 12 points in the first quarter and a total of 29 points at the break were both low for the already weak season. Marc Gasol (15 points, 10 boards) scored a double-double, and at least the replacement of Mike Conley, Andrew Harrison with 20 points and 7 assists was convincing.
Page 1: Weak PG-13 on Indiana return
Page 2: Celtics back on track – Bulls-Streak continues
Page 3: Paul shines eleventh Rockets victory in series