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OKLAHOMA CITY – With nine wins at half-time over the Indiana Pacers, Paul George knew something had to change for the Oklahoma City Thunder.
It made.
The biggest race without an opposing NBA point this season – a 24-0 lead early in the third quarter – turned the deficit 14 points ahead and eventually a 107-99 victory.
"We knew that was not enough," said George about OKC. "When we got in half, we knew we had to change things, and we went out and executed that."
One of the best defensive teams of the season, the Thunder have been extremely inconsistent in the past two months, but they have increased the intensity to start the race. The Pacers went aimless for almost seven minutes – from 10:48 to 15:57, when Tyreke Evans finally did a layup.
George took a slow start to free himself, with 12 of 31 points scored in the third quarter, allowing the Thunder to defeat his former team.
"Honestly, I've noticed the stops more than the goals," George said. "I noticed we were making stops and we were going out, I noticed that the pace was on our side and that the momentum was on our side." But I did not necessarily noticed 24-0 on this stretch. "
The defense leading to the offensive was the identity of the Thunder when they played at their standard this season, their energy increasing defensively, they gave a new impetus to the effort. Spectrum in the second, thunder struck 8 times out of 10 in the jumpers caught shooting during the race and 7 times out of 11 on the disputed shots.
According to Elias, the Thunder now has two of the top three races of the season, which broke out Wednesday against the Pacers. They also had a 22-0 race against the Phoenix Suns in November. (The LA Clippers also had a 22-0 streak this season.)
"Honestly, I did not even think about it," Westbrook said of the race. "I was stuck on the defensive and I was trying to get as many stops as possible to win."
During the race of thunder, the Pacers showed signs of frustration, the final points arriving on a four-point fortunate game for George. After George finished one and 1 over Wesley Matthews, Indiana's guard broke on an official and fired a technical foul. George hit both free throws to punctuate the race.
For his part, George was also frustrated with a call on the previous game when Matthews' foul was called on the floor, instead of the act of shooting.
"We officiated differently," said George. "I am going to change my state of mind.It is emotionally hard to be in the present moment and to answer a call or any call.I am human, but I have learned to be better with that, just try to move on, and a lot of times, it ruins my game when I'm excited about the referees and invest too much in the referees, so just try to change course, and I think everyone does it, it starts with me, it starts with Russ, these guys are admiring us in this group, so we're just trying to change course. "
In recent weeks, the Thunder has been the subject of controversy among referees. George was fined $ 25,000 for criticizing post-game criticism of the arbitration, while Westbrook was suspended for technical fouls.
Against the Pacers, however, Westbrook bounced back after a tough match Monday at the Memphis Grizzlies set the tone early, almost defiantly withstand shooting as he was trying to prepare his teammates. He scored his 29th triple-double of the season – 17 points, 11 rebounds and 12 assists – and said it had something to do with what he had seen on film with the defensive style of the game. Packing Pacers.
"Read and react," said Westbrook. "The game plan of many teams is to try to keep me from painting, to load the painting and to bring a lot of guys, so take the time to read, react and to make a lot of decisions. "
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