DENVER, Sporting Alert — Paul George, Russell Westbrook and Carmelo Anthony all contributed significantly and the Oklahoma City Thunder defeated the Denver Nuggets 96-86 in NBA preseason action on Tuesday night.
Westbrook contributed 20 points on 9-of-13 shooting and seven assists in 26 minutes, while George featured for 35 minutes and finished with 19 points, 11 rebounds, four assists, five steals and one block at Pepsi Center.
Another offseason addition, Anthony, posted 16 points and nine rebounds in only 16 minutes on the court for the Thunder, who finished their preseason fixtures with a 3-1 record.
“We’re where we wanna be right now,” George, who hit five 3-pointers in the win, said after the game.
“It was great to get three games with Russ and Carmelo, as well as the whole starting five to see what that feels like.
Thunder ends preseason with 96-86 win at Denver.
-Westbrook 20p/7a
-George 19p/11r
-Anthony 16p/9r
-Huestis 15p/9r pic.twitter.com/aY67kuyIMV— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) October 11, 2017
George, who played a lot of minutes with the youngsters and helped them pushed through a difficult period in the game, said he was delighted that things have not come easy for him.
“In that segment when we were stagnant I told the young guys stay with it, stay together and we got through it. We pushed through it.”
He added: “This is all new to me. I told coach I am happy that this is hard. I am happy that this is going to take some time for me.”
Josh Huestis added 15 points and nine rebounds for Oklahoma City, which opens its regular season campaign at the Chesapeake Energy Arena against the New York Knicks on Thursday, Oct. 19.
Live national coverage will be on TNT, with TNT Overtime streaming the game online as well.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday night, Will Barton led Denver off the bench with 26 points on 9-of-18 shooting from the floor overall, including four 3-pointers.
Barton also added five rebounds, three assists and three steals in 30 minutes.
Nikola Jokic posted 12 points, 11 rebounds and three assists over 23 minutes, while Gary Harris scored 11 points in the defeat for the Nuggets, who finished the NBA preseason fixtures 3-2.
Denver will open its 2017-18 NBA regular campaign away at Vivint Smart Home Arena in Salt Lake City against the Utah Jazz on Wednesday, Oct. 18.
19p/11r/5s
PG on TV with @LesleyMcCaslin pic.twitter.com/DnrbAJzT5d— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) October 11, 2017
