The Portland Trail Blazers and Oklahoma City Thunder's matchup was a cardiac Thursday night treat and things even got extra physical, though inadvertently, between Paul George and Jusuf Nurkic near the end of regulation.
George drove to the basket and sidestepped his way past Nurkic. Unfortunately for the latter, the Thunder forward's elbow went flying and ended up hitting Nurkic in the face. No foul was called and it effectively took the big man out which allowed Oklahoma City to control the rebound off of George's miss, converting on a putback with 13 seconds left.
Nurkic took a Paul George elbow right to the chin pic.twitter.com/wsnkj0AIDm
— Dime (@DimeUPROXX) March 8, 2019
The game went to overtime with the Thunder prevailing, 129-121, after the final buzzer.
George had himself another MVP-type of performance with 32 points, 14 rebounds, six assists, and three steals. He shot a horrendous 7-of-23 from the field but made up for it with his aggressiveness that led to a 17-of-20 clip from the free-throw line.
The Thunder star got ample support from former Most Valuable Player Russell Westbrook who finished the game with 37 points.
Meanwhile, the Blazers were led by Damian Lillard's 51-point explosion. The All-Star point guard also added five rebounds and nine assists to his name. Nurkic provided the muscle with 13 points, 17 rebounds, three assists, two steals, and one block.
Unfortunately for the home team, they ended up on the bitter end of a tie-breaker with the Thunder for the fourth seed in the West.
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