It was an emotional night for both Paul George and Pacers fans as the Thunder arrived in Indiana. Now, with the contest in the rearview mirror, George is ready to move on. As Clifton Brown of the Indianapolis Star writes, the All-Star is happy that the “circus” is over.
While George struggled in his return to the city in which he launched his career, Thunder head coach Billy Donovan thinks that his forward handled it well, showing incredible poise.
George shot 3-14 from the field in the Thunder’s narrow victory Wednesday night, the latest inconsistent offensive showing in a season that has, to this point, been full of them.
“I understood I was going to be coming into it, so it wasn’t a surprise,” George said. “My [Thunder] teammates did a great job of helping me battle this one tonight. Just kept everything within that rectangle out there.”
There’s more from the Northwest Division:
- While his return is still weeks, if not months away, injured Nuggets forward Paul Millsap is back with the team and doing everything possible to return to the court as quickly as possible, Christopher Dempsey of Denver’s official site writes.
- Much has been said of the heavy usage that Timberwolves starters have seen so far this season but that could be caused by a lack of depth. Michael Rand of the Star Tribune writes that the Wolves wouldn’t need to rely on their short-list of stars if they could consistently expect more out of their bench.
- It was always possible that the NBA’s latest big three experiment could take time to bear fruit. Now 27 games into the 2017/18 season, however, Royce Young of ESPN asks, if the Thunder are running out of time.
The wolves have multiple people on the bench that could handle more minutes. This Jones, Crawford, Dieng, and Bjelica once he’s healthy. All of them are reliable. No reason the starters should be playing so much.
That’s what Thibs does to every team he coaches. It works short term but come playoffs your team will probably be dead.
It’s unfortunate. He’s done a great job managing the team through trades, FA, and the draft. You would think he could rely on the bench that he helped build.
I hope Laker fans realize they can’t get a trade for Paul George. The Pacers got 2 good players with long term contracts. The Lakers don’t have the players to match another teams best offer. They’ve offered Randle and Clarkson for some time. Other teams don’t want them. Carmelo and PG13 will likely be gone next season. OKC needs a shooter.