Hopefully, for the Thunder’s sake this was their last game without the services of MVP candidate Paul George. These games without George were painful to watch and an acute reminder of how much this Thunder team is reliant upon his skills on both ends of the floor.
With 6:54 left in the game, the Thunder at home somehow found themselves trailing by 13 points against a bad Memphis team which didn’t have Mike Conley and Jaren Jackson available on the night.
The Thunder played uphill the entire night and seemed to lack any energy to that point, but finally got some spark from Ray Felton and Abdel Nader to get the crowd into the game and eventually Russell Westbrook showed some interest in the outcome of the game.
Westbrook had another tough night going 7-20 scoring 22 points, but in the fourth period he did score 12 points and gave the Thunder just enough of a nudge to end their four game losing streak before embarking on the toughest nine game stretch of the season.
It was a tough game to watch. The building was dead inside until Felton and Nader created a spark, but in the end a win is a win and I would think every Thunder fan is clinging to the hope Paul George is ready to go on Tuesday night in Minneapolis.
Unbelievably, the Thunder actually moved back up to the No. 3 seed with the win. But if you look in their rear view mirror the Trailblazers, Rockets and Jazz are all poised to make a move with 19 games left in the regular season.
The toughest week of the regular season awaits the Thunder in this next sequence of road games, but if the Thunder could just go 2-2 there is the thought ten of their last fifteen games are at home with Paul George back in the lineup.
The Thunder in Minnesota on Tuesday to play the Wolves.