Don’t look now, but Sam Presti’s Thunder sit atop the Western Conference standings by a half game over Cupcake’s Warriors. Maybe someone with a cell phone should point this out to Cupcake or possibly even Draymond.
And consider this, the Thunder at 17-8 have done this even with Russell Westbrook still embracing most of his worst habits.
Twenty-five games into this season and the MVP in the West is an easy pick. It’s the guy with two first names. As in Paul George.
If nothing else Paul George is on tract to win the NBA’s Player of the Month honor if he keeps trending as is through the month.
On Monday night in the Peake against the division rival Utah Jazz, Paul George led ‘his’ Thunder to a relatively easy 122-113 win over a Jazz team which looks like a team in need of a home stretch of games right now. Imagine if Presti had somehow gotten rid of Alex Abrines and Patrick Patterson and added Kyle Korver to this team. Visualize that.
Paul George is the MVP in the West after twenty-five games. Period. With Russell Westbrook apparently not getting enough sleep because of the twins, Paul George has not only filled that gap, but he’s filled the huge abyss which was left in Oklahoma City after Jerry West’s phone call to Cupcake on that fateful July night.
On this Monday night in OKC…Paul George scored the most efficient 31 points I’ve ever witnessed in my life on ten shots. It was beyond Durantesque. It was like a countryside mural of the hills in the Sound of Music. It was as if a basketball artist had created something beautiful before our eyes.
Steven Adams, Jerami Grant, Dennis Schroeder, Nerlens Noel, and Diallo were excellent in support as well. Terrance Ferguson is actually becoming decent in playing the Andre role. He’s not in any way hurting the Thunder.
Meanwhile, Abrines and Patterson continue to not really bring anything to the table on a consistent basis.
I can visualize the gears spinning in Sam Presti’s head right now. Diallo is going to be something. Ferguson has enough to make up for Andre’s absence. Wild Thing is never going to change. And right now the MVP in the West is Paul George with Steven Adams emerging as one of the best centers in the entire league and Schroder as Sixth Man of the Year.
If Wild Thing can come to terms with himself and if Presti can find another three point shooter who knows?
Donald Trump became POTUS. So who really knows anything anymore about anything?
But on this day on December 11th, the Thunder sit atop the Warriors for the first time since that 3-1 series lead and the eventual Durant divorce to run off with an upper tier stripper named Draymond.
Somebody should buy Sam Presti lunch today.