Thunder at Magic
Paul George was named an All-Star starter last week and is making himself into a dark horse MVP candidate with his play of late. George will try to lead the Oklahoma City Thunder to a sixth consecutive victory when they open a three-game road trip by visiting the Orlando Magic on Tuesday.
George controlled the game as the Thunder took down the top team in the Eastern Conference with a 118-112 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks on Sunday, finishing with 36 points on 12-of-21 shooting, eight 3-pointers, 13 rebounds and three assists. "He was doing everything - making 3s, midrange, dunking, floaters, he was all over the place," Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo told reporters of George. "He's been playing amazing. Down the stretch you know where the ball's going to go, it's going to go to Paul George. He closed the game out for them, and he played the right way all night." George could be in for another big night against the Magic, who are losers of three straight and are sliding out of contention in the Eastern Conference. "It's a lot of games this year that I feel like we handed away," Orlando forward Aaron Gordon told reporters after a 103-98 loss at Houston on Sunday. "We have a couple more home games coming up, so we have to take care of the crib and see if we can get on a winning streak."
TV: 7 p.m. ET, FS Oklahoma, FS Florida (Orlando)
ABOUT THE THUNDER (31-18): George is averaging 31.4 points while shooting 54.3 percent from beyond the arc during the five-game winning streak but is taking just as much pride in his role on the other end of the floor. "We were sharp. We rotated. We helped," George told reporters of Oklahoma City's defense on Sunday. "That's what our defense is when we're number one. Tonight, we did do an excellent job of shrinking the floor and flying out to their shooters. We did a little of everything and it was enough for us to win." Former MVP Russell Westbrook recorded another triple-double with 13 points, 13 rebounds and 11 assists on Sunday but suffered through a poor shooting night at 5-of-20 from the floor.
ABOUT THE MAGIC (20-30): Orlando is 1-6 in its last seven games with five of those losses coming by five or fewer points, and the team is well aware of its execution problems down the stretch. "We just gotta do it," center Nikola Vucevic told reporters. "Execute at the end, make stops at the end. That one win might get us over the hump." Vucevic collected 19 points and 17 rebounds on Sunday for his third double-double in four games but bemoaned his own lack of execution and aggressiveness after managing just two of those points in the second half.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Thunder C Steven Adams is shooting 66.9 percent from the floor in January.
2. Orlando SF Jonathon Simmons totaled two points on 1-of-7 shooting over the last two games.
3. The teams split the two-game series last season, with each protecting home court.