In a separate statement, Oklahoma City Thunder’s vice president of broadcasting said the statement made by Davis was “offensive and inappropriate”. Dante Exum and Alec Burks each scored 10 points. And it wasn’t just because he shot all the time.
OKC edged away in the next 24 minutes, taking a nine-point lead into the final frame.
Roberson, a second-team all-defense selection last year, who started the first 39 games is out for the year with a ruptured left patellar tendon. He set up Paul George, who busted out of a slump with 40 points on 13 of 20 shooting, including an 8 of 14 performance from 3-point land. If he can punish Russell Westbrook for challenging him inside while also maintaining his 13.5 points per game to complement Donovan Mitchell, who we know will put up points, the Jazz will be a tough out.
Rudy Gobert guarding the paint against Russell Westbrook is the obvious story line headed into this series. “That was the game plan, so we are going to go back and adjust”.
But then again, maybe he’s just now getting introduced to Playoff P himself. Seems like the Jazz finally got to meet “Playoff P”.
“I’m going to bring it to that level every night”, George said. This is what the Thunder envisioned when they traded for George last summer, giving up Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis.
George says he’ll be fine for game two.
The Jazz, on the other hand, have an even better comeback story. They tied it up at 25-25 at the end of the first quarter and led 54-48 at halftime. The Thunder were able to limit the Jazz to less than 97 points in the four regular season meetings.
He averaged 13.5 points, 10.7 rebounds and 2.3 blocks per game this season.
Donovan Mitchell has taken over headlines this year, but making the Utah Jazz a relevant force in the National Basketball Association again doesn’t stop after a stellar regular season. The Thunder star went into the night in need of 16 rebounds to secure a triple-double average for the season. When he wasn’t on the floor, as has been the case for most of the season, the Jazz offense struggled to score efficiently. The Thunder big man executed a remarkable lob-catch and dunk, and it was followed by an Anthony 3-pointer as the Thunder got its largest lead at 18 points (109-91). The Thunder tallied a 116-108 home win in game one on Sunday evening.
“We’ve got to finish the game collectively as a group better than we did tonight”, Donovan said.
Announcer Brian Davis used a derogatory and racist term to describe a hard shot made by Oklahoma City Thunder point guard Russell Westbrook.
They’re entire team should be proud of the effort they had for the entire game, and it is just the first game in the series.