The Oklahoma City Thunder have not stopped proving people wrong.
Coming into the season, they were considered to be a lottery team, with former franchise cornerstone Russell Westbrook traded to the Houston Rockets. But the Thunder, led by a three-guard trio of Chris Paul, Dennis Schroder and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, have shown otherwise.
With their win Sunday against the Boston Celtics, the Thunder extended their win streak to three games and moved into the Western Conference’s fifth seed.
The Thunder have 18 games left in the regular season, and while they haven’t officially clinched a playoff spot, their performances make them potential spoilers for higher-seeded teams in the postseason.
Chris Paul isn’t done being a top-tier point guard yet
Paul, 34, is playing his 15th NBA season, and after a down year last season with the Rockets, questions emerged of how much time he had left in his career.
With the performances he’s had this season, Paul has shown he has more to give than most people thought. Sunday night’s game against the Celtics was simply another example of Paul’s resurgence. He scored a game-high 28 points, dished a team-high seven assists and grabbed six rebounds.
It was the 22nd time this season Paul scored 20 or more points; last season Paul had 18 such games.
Paul was an All-Star for the first time since the 2015-16 season, his second-to-last season with the Los Angeles Clippers. He has been instrumental in OKC’s success, using his veteran leadership to help close games.
According to NBA.com stats, the Thunder and Brooklyn Nets are tied for first in points scored in the last five minutes, while there also being a five-point difference or less. Both teams are averaging 10.6 points in that span, and Paul averages 3.4 points within the last five minutes of games.