The Oklahoma City Thunder lost Game 1 to the Portland Trail Blazers 104-99, but that's not the worst news to come out of Monday's game.
After the game, All-Star forward Paul George revealed that he was still suffering from the effects of a right shoulder injury, so much so that he could not lift his should just four days before.
“Four days ago I couldn’t even lift my shoulder,” George said according to Erik Horne of the Oklahoman. “Fast-forward to today, it was the first day I shot the ball.
“With me, it’s just rhythm.”
George still managed to finish the game with a team-high 26 points, 10 rebounds and four steals fouling out in the final seconds of the game. Despite the points output, he shot 8-for-24 from the field and 4-for-15 from three-point range — not exactly efficiency at it's finest.
The Thunder as a team shot 5-for-33 from three in the loss on Monday. Terrence Ferguson was the only player other than PG13 to knock down a triple.
George was one of the Thunder's best three-point shooters this season at 39% from long range. Of the 16 playoff teams, only the Detroit Pistons had a worst three-point percentage as a team than Oklahoma City in the regular season.
With Game 2 coming up on Wednesday, OKC is going to have to find a way to shot better from beyond the arc — especially if George is going to be hampered by the shoulder injury.
"Tomorrow we'll get shots up and get back in tune," George continued. "We'll try to get the same looks that we got (Monday)."
