Chris Paul shines beyond scoring, posts plus-26 in Thunder win over Wizards

Chris Paul didn’t need to score for much of the game to lead the Oklahoma City Thunder over the Washington Wizards.

Chris Paul only had five points through three quarters on Sunday, but his impact was obvious as the Oklahoma City Thunder built leads over the Washington Wizards on Sunday.

He finally became a scorer in the fourth quarter, scoring eight points over the final 12 minutes to stop a small Wizards run and lead the Thunder to a 121-103 win.

Paul finished the game with 13 points, nine assists, six rebounds, three steals, two blocks and just two turnovers.

His plus-minus was an insane plus-26.

Oklahoma City began the game with a 10-0 run and built it up to 23-8, six of the points coming from Chris Paul assists to center Mike Muscala.

“Just trying to read the pick-and-roll coverage Chris is always talking about there,” Muscala said. “If they’re in a deep drop, my job is to be ready to shoot, so I got a few good looks in the first quarter.”

Muscala had three 3-pointers during that run.

Paul checked out with a 23-10 lead, and the Wizards promptly went on an 8-0 run as they switched into zone defense.

He came back in for the final offensive possession of the quarter and picked up an assist, then assisted two of the first four Thunder buckets in the second quarter.

The Thunder build the lead up to 15 points in the second quarter and then went into the half with an 16-point lead.

“I thought the ball movement was better, I thought the way we attacked the paint was much better than it was coming out of the Memphis (Grizzlies) game,” head coach Billy Donovan said.

“We shot the ball well, cause I thought we generated good shots. But that’s the kind of pace and speed that we need to play at.”

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Donovan said Paul specifically did a good job manipulating the floor and creating closeouts for others, particularly Darius Bazley, who finished with a career-high 23 points and five 3-pointers.

Near the beginning of the fourth quarter, the Wizards cut the lead to 12. That’s when Paul made his move to become more aggressive and a scorer.

He dribbled across the baseline, turned and hit the jumper. Then, he drove to the paint before dumping it off to Hamidou Diallo, who had an impressive finish at the rim.

On the next possession, Paul drilled a deep 3 to push the lead back up to 19. He got a steal on the next Wizards’ possession.

The threat was eliminated.

Even without Paul’s scoring early, the team built its lead with his presence.

“He sees the game unlike any player I’ve really played with, so I think his talk offensively and defensively is huge,” Muscala said. “The way he reads the game, it goes a long way for the whole team.”

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