NBA: Thunder defeat Pacers in Paul George's return to Indiana

Paul George (in blue) of the Oklahoma City Thunder defends Victor Oladipo of Indiana Pacers during the game at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. PHOTO: AFP

LOS ANGELES (AFP) - Russell Westbrook posted his ninth triple double of the season and Paul George made a successful return to Indiana as the Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Pacers 100-95 in the National Basketball Association on Wednesday (Dec 13).

George was booed loudly whenever he touched the ball in his first return to the Bankers Life Fieldhouse arena since being traded five months ago.

But the four-time All-Star, had the last laugh, scoring 12 points as he backed up Westbrook's 10-point, 17-rebound and 12-assist performance in front of a crowd of 17,900.

He was traded to Oklahoma City in exchange for Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis after he told the Pacers he did not plan to re-sign with the team following the 2017-18 NBA season.

Steven Adams scored 23 points on 11-of-16 shooting and grabbed 13 rebounds to lead the Thunder.

The Thunder improved to 13-14 for the season as they registered their first two-game season sweep of Indiana since 2012-13 and snapped the Pacers' four-game winning streak.

Oladipo led the Pacers with 19 points, but had a rough shooting night, going nine of 26 from the floor. Bojan Bogdanovic added 15 for the Pacers and Thaddeus Young had 11 points, 10 rebounds and seven steals.

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