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PORTLAND, Oregon – About 50 minutes before the start, Paul George walked Sunday to the Moda Center with black tape covering both his shoulders and picked up two basketballs. As his pre-game routine, standing on the baseline, he pounded both balls into the ground, moving them between the hands. He climbed up to the 3-point line and dribbled it, then turned one on the side. He turned to look at the basket and took 15 feet.
It was apparently the first time George had been shooting a basketball in five days. Before the first game, the last shot that he had managed was the April 9 game against the Houston Rockets. He was officially declared doubtful because of right shoulder pain, but he never really wondered whether he would play or not. He said this after the team's training on Friday, noting that it was playoffs: you play through the pain.
But he was certainly not himself. After averaging 38 points per game and 45.9% against 3 in nearly 10 attempts against the Portland Trail Blazers in the regular season, George scored 26, including only 4 out of 15, in the loss. -99 Oklahoma City Thunder in the first match. .
It was not a physical problem, however, he said.
"For me, it's just rhythm," he said. "Four days ago, I could not even lift my shoulder." Fast forward for today, it's the first time I shoot the ball.This is just punctuated. I'm going to shoot, fix it and try the same looks we have tonight. "
Find everything you need to know about the first round of the series here.
That's the thing: George had a beautiful appearance. Really, the thunder was on the run. According to Second Spectrum data, the Thunder had better quality shots, both as quantized fire (51.8 to 49.1) and quantized fire probability (51.6 to 51.5) compared to in Portland.
But as a team, thunder hit a total of 33 out of 33, and George's off night punctuated the evening. Dennis Schroder, having broken his career record by beating the Bucks in the last regular season game against the Bucks (OKC had a record 23 wins in the franchise), scored a 0-for-7. Westbrook scored 0-4, Jerami Grant 0-3.
The Thunder shot 2-for-15 (13.3%) over an unchallenged 3 in the first game. In total, the 15.2% conversion of Oklahoma City on 33 3-point attempts constitutes the worst percentage in the NBA playoff history since at least 30 attempts at ESPN Stats & Information research.
"I do not think it's really something we did," said Damian Lillard of the Thunder shot. "It's actually one of the things we need to do a better job in the second game, because it's often Paul George, he pulled half of it, and he's the last guy we wish to shoot, and some of those he had were open and he just missed them tonight. "
There is something hope for the Thunder, however, it is that George may have started to pick up pace in the fourth quarter. He hit 2 of 4 from the fourth quarter's deepest, including one who reduced Portland's lead to one with 2:44 to play. Lillard responded immediately with his own 30-foot distance missile, and that was the dominant theme of the first game: The Trail Blazers fired shots when they needed it; thunder does not have. And so much of that comes back to George.
"They were going to try to do everything they could to stop me," George said. "It's not new, nothing different, we're good here."
The Thunder have other pieces of quality and are at their best when the balance is balanced, but George is the pivot of their attack. Russell Westbrook is the engine, George is the accelerator. It's no secret that the Thunder is not a great shooting team, but George alone can elevate him to the rank of player. Westbrook was relentless and admirably stubborn in his way of chasing shots for George Sunday, and at one point, the Thunder must believe that they will fall.
There have been times when Westbrook was under the impression that it was going to change to the well-do-it-me-me mode, but it has largely resisted. He shot twice in the fourth quarter, one against three. One of Westbrook's critics is his tendency to become a thug, especially when things start to go awry. This season, he showed a new conviction: stay true to his team and trust his teammates open even when they were not shooting. But Westbrook can not put up a teammate and do the trick for him too.
"I sometimes thought it was contagious for our team, we moved the ball," said Thunder coach Billy Donovan about Westbrook's death. "I did not feel like we had worked on the offensive, I did not feel like we were really struggling and [that] it was a job for us. "
George's shoulder problems played a role in the fall of the Thunder's second game, his first injury to the right shoulder on Feb. 26 against the Nuggets. He missed three games and only came back a few days later to injure his left shoulder. While he needed a little time to regain his pace, the Thunder struggled. He came and OKC too.
George said that after the match, the pain had dissipated and that, physically, everything was "good" during the match. He has already recognized that a blow in the wrong place could cause a setback, but he did not feel any problem with his mechanics.
It's about settling down and finding your shot. Because in many ways, the season of the Thunder rests on the shoulders of Paul George.
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