Last night marked the first time in Paul George’s career he faced the Indiana Pacers as an opposing player. In the days leading up to the game, he acknowledged that his trade last summer from Indiana to Oklahoma City “could have been done a lot better.”
* Recap: Thunder 114, Pacers 96
But for as much as George wanted to have a good game against Indiana, fouls kept him from doing so. He was held to 10 points and eventually fouled out, but told Clifton Brown of the Indianapolis Star that he was happy, overall, that his team got the victory:
Had the Oklahoma City Thunder lost the game, the night could have been embarrassing for George. But thanks to huge games from his All-Star teammates, Russell Westbrook (28 points, 16 assists, 10 rebounds) and Carmelo Anthony (28 points, 10 rebounds), the Thunder downed the Pacers,114-96, and George could simply chalk it up to one of those nights.
“It is what it is,” the almost always unflappable George said afterward. “We played well, our principles and our defense got a lot better than the game before and offensively we we were great. Russ and Melo did an unbelievable job of really shouldering everything. They carried the team, they carried me. It’s great to have two guys that I can pair off with, when nights are going for me, they’re there for me.”
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With each foul, and each time Thunder coach Billy Donovan sent George to the bench, you could see the frustration on his face. So much for having a big night against his former team. But Donovan was impressed with the way George kept his cool.
“You know, I was actually more impressed with him tonight, watching him have to go through that and just his composure, staying in the game, playing the right way, not pressing,” said Donovan. “I think sometimes in adverse situations you get a chance to see different things out of people, but I was really really impressed with him tonight. Clearly there were some calls to me that we were really, really tough calls, that kind of put him in foul trouble pretty quickly and probably took away his rhythm, but he stayed with it. He’s a team guy.”
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The Pacers knew this would be a difficult assignment, playing the second of back-to-back road games against one of the NBA’s most talented teams. With center Myles Turner (concussion) out of the lineup, only three Pacers who were teammates with George last season saw action – Lance Stephenson, Thaddeus Young, and Al Jefferson. They knew George was frustrated by the foul trouble.
“The refs took him out the game,” said Stephenson, who was close with George when they were teammates. “He may have been a little bit over-aggressive tonight, but there was a lot of emotion. It’s the first time he’s playing against his former team, teammates. I guess it was tough on him.
“I just wish we would’ve won the game. That would have been a bonus. They’re a great team. Westbrook got off, Carmelo got off, and there goes the game.”
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