Tuesday was an ugly, ugly loss for the Boston Celtics, and Jaylen Brown knows it. The Celtics fell 119-115 to the Oklahoma City Thunder (who lost 14 straight coming into the game, mind you) at TD Garden in what probably was one of Boston’s worst losses of the season. Brown had 39 points, but it […]
Jaylen Brown Clearly Unhappy After Loss, Needs Celtics To Find ‘Inner Flame’ — NESN.com
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Kawhi Leonard scored 31 points, Paul George added 29 and the Los Angeles Clippers beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 120-106 on Friday night for their sixth straight win.Serge Ibaka had 17 points and 11 rebounds to help the Clippers improve to 12-4, tying the Lakers for the NBA’s best record.Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the Thunder with 30 points and eight assists against his former team. Lu Dort added 19 points.“He was amazing. He had some great moves, great finishes around the basket as always,” teammate Mike Muscala said of Gilgeous-Alexander. “He makes the game easier for everybody on the court.”The Thunder were in catch-up mode most of the way before dropping their second straight and fourth in five games. They were just 14 of 42 from 3-point range and only got to the free throw line 13 times.“We had a bad start,” Dort said. “We had to talk to each other, pick it up, and play harder.”The Clippers grabbed control in the first half, scoring 36 points in the first quarter and 34 in the second on 63% shooting. They had scoring runs of 21-2 and 11-4 in the first.They opened the second quarter with a 19-10 spurt, including George’s steal and dunk followed by his consecutive 3-pointers, for their largest lead of 27 points.From there, the Thunder put together a 25-15 surge, hitting five 3-pointers, to trail 70-53 at halftime.The Thunder worked to reduce a 23-point deficit to 10 points in the third. They outscored the Clippers 15-2 during one stretch, helped by eight points from Dort and Muscala’s first 3-pointer after he missed four attempts in the first half.But Leonard quickly put the Clippers ahead 91-75, running off six in a row. Muscala hit another 3-pointer that left the Thunder trailing by 13 going into the fourth.“Teams are going to make runs, regardless of it’s a top team or a young team,” George said. “You got to learn how to win in adversity and learn how to weather the storm. It’s more so about us withstanding that and executing down the stretch.”George scored 11 points in the fourth against his old team, when Gilgeous-Alexander had 10 for the Thunder.TIP-INSThunder: It took until the second half, but Dort and Muscala continued their streaks of both hitting at least one 3-pointer in each game they’ve played this season. Dort leads the team with 34 3-pointers and Muscala is second with 26. … They dropped to 1-6 against the West.Clippers: Lou Williams recorded his 249th career game with at least five assists off the bench, tying J.J. Barea for the most such games in NBA history.NEW ADDITIONNicolas Batum and his wife, Lily, welcomed a daughter earlier Thursday. He tweeted a black-and-white photo of the baby named Nayeli. “Woman (sic) are the strongest. They both have done a great job. What a crazy day. I’m the happiest man in the world,” he wrote, adding three heart emojis. Batum scored 14 points.UP NEXTThe teams meet again Sunday at Staples Center.___More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
Clippers dominate, beat Thunder 120-106 for 6th win in row — The China Post, Taiwan
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 31 points to lead the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Kevin Durant returns, scores 36, but Thunder beat Nets 129-116 — ProBasketballTalk | NBC Sports
OKLAHOMA CITY (ABC4 Sports) – Donovan Mitchell scored the last 12 points of the game for the Jazz, including the go-ahead layup with 7 seconds left and finished with 20 points, lifting Utah over the Oklahoma City Thunder, 110-109, on Monday night. “Games aren’t going to be easy, we’re not going to win every game by 40,” Mitchell…
Donovan Mitchell scores final 12 points as Jazz beat Oklahoma City, 110-109 — ABC4 Utah
Officials with the Oklahoma City Thunder say the 2020-21 season will begin without an audience due to the continued COVID-19 pandemic.
OKC Thunder to begin season without fans in arena — KFOR.com Oklahoma City
New Oklahoma City Thunder guard Ty Jerome tweeted after being acquired from the Phoenix Suns in the Chris Paul trade.
Ty Jerome reacts to being traded to the Thunder as part of Chris Paul deal — OKC Thunder Wire
The Thunder acquired draft picks to take on Chris Paul, helped rehabilitate Paul’s value and will now trade Paul for a draft pick.
Report: Thunder trading Chris Paul to the Suns — ProBasketballTalk | NBC Sports
The point guard projects as a scoring, playmaking boost to the Lakers’ back court. The deal could ripple into the team’s other offseason moves.
Report: Lakers will trade Danny Green, first-round pick to OKC for Dennis Schrӧder — Whittier Daily News
The Lakers would send Danny Green and the No. 28 pick to OKC.
Report: Lakers in “advanced talks” to trade for Dennis Schroder from OKC — ProBasketballTalk | NBC Sports
Chris Paul might not be the only Thunder point guard on his way out.
Dennis Schroder expected to draw ‘strong interest’ on the trade market — OKC Thunder Wire
The Kentucky Wildcat has now met with the Thunder twice.
Could the Thunder be targeting Kentucky guard Immanuel Quickley? — OKC Thunder Wire
The Thunder’s success this season seems to have strengthened Chris Paul’s resolve.
Chris Paul reaffirms he will not opt out of deal for move to contender — OKC Thunder Wire
As has been well-documented, Paul, who recently turned 35 years old, has two seasons and about $85 million due to him under his current deal. The final year of the deal is a player option worth about $44 million, though, and once upon a time, there were some who wondered whether Paul would be willing to opt out of the final year in order to either help make him a more desirable trade target for contenders or exercise his right to free agency early.
Paul, to no fault of his own, still isn’t hearing it.
He said he wouldn’t opt out in January, and he doubled-down when he appeared on ESPN’s First Take with Stephen A. Smith, Max Kellerman and guest host Charly Arnolt on Friday.
The pertinent exchange occurred when Kellerman referred back to the interview Paul did with Sports Illustrated in January where the point guard said there was “no chance” he’d leave the money on the table.
His stance, predictably, hasn’t changed.
“January was like a lifetime ago… You told Sports Illustrated at that point that you didn’t have any plans to opt out of the last year, $44 million, of your contract to seek a trade or anything like that… Where are you with that today?” Kellerman asked.
Paul remained consistent.
“I don’t control that… Sam Presti has been amazing this year and Oklahoma was amazing, obviously we’ll see what happens this summer or whatnot. It’s nice to be here and be close to my family. I think for me, I’m gonna let everything play out, see what happens, but I’m in a good place. I wish we could’ve kept advancing in the playoffs, but I don’t have no plans of opting out no time soon, neither.
As gifted as he is, Paul will turn 37 years old in the final year of his contract, and the $44 million he’ll be paid for the 2021-22 season is not money he’d be able to recoup should he opt out and leave it on the table.
Furthermore, Paul’s resurgence could bring teams such as the New York Knicks, Phoenix Suns or Chicago Bulls to the table. Each of the teams could benefit from bringing in a winner like Paul and they, unlike say, the Milwaukee Bucks, have differing levels of young players and draft capital that may be enticing to Oklahoma City.
Paul, though, isn’t doing anyone any favors, and in the twilight of his career, he certainly isn’t leaving $44 million on the table. Nor should he.
The view from left field 