Oklahoma City Thunder blaze to victory on Super Bowl Sunday

It may be Super Bowl Sunday, but the Oklahoma City Thunder provided an excellent lead in to the big event with arguably their most complete game effort since losing Enes Kanter.

The Oklahoma City Thunder came out off the gate with an aggression not witnessed in some time. Clearly the home town team felt the Blazers were weak in the paint as they repeated attacked Portland.

Oklahoma City Thunder hustle dictates first quarter:

Right from the tip it was clear the Thunder were intent on setting the tone. On one single offensive set Steven Adams went to business garnering 4 offensive boards. Adams kept trying to set up Domantas Sabonis who repeatedly missed close shots. Eventually Adams just put the ball in himself.

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In a rare offensive outburst Andre Roberson was also extremely active early. Further the combination of Roberson and Victor Oladipo led to rushed passes, turnovers and overall they kept the lethal Blazers backcourt in check.

Russell Westbrook was aggressive driving the paint whenever the Blazers defense was slow in transition or saw driving lanes. On one such play Al Farouq Aminu bodied him mid air sending to the ground. Coach Donovan immediately called a time out, to scream at the official for the no call. Funny, at the time I tried to recall ever seeing Donovan that angry. Then I saw this tweet:

In fairness, Westbrook has to get that call and the League has to protect their stars from plays like that.  That said, Aminu is probably the Blazers best defender and someone who would look great in a Thunder jersey. Although my cohort, Tony Heim would give you a solid argument Mo Harkless would as well.

At the end of the first the Oklahoma City Thunder:

• had taken 11 more field goal attempts
• out scored the Blazers 18-2 in paint
• led rebounding 19-10 (8-2 on the offensive glass)
• were 8-0 on the fast break
• held Portland to 26 percent from the field.

Second Quarter Collapse:

After dominating the opening frame, the Oklahoma City Thunder weren’t able to create much offense with Westbrook sitting. Moreover, that bled into OKC’s defense as suddenly the Blazers were able to hit on all cylinders scoring in the paint, from the perimeter and in transition.

By the half the Blazers had pulled ahead erasing the 8-point deficit to take a 6 point lead. The difference was the Thunder bench who were unable to keep pace with the Blazers reserves who outscored them 18-9 in the half.

Third Quarter:

People often ask why I’m so down on Plumlee – go to 10:18 to 10:11 of the third quarter for your answer. He commits not one moving screen, but two in a row. Then he misses an easy bunny over Sabonis followed by an easy put back dunk. That little segment of film explains why I feel he is extremely over rated and why the Blazers are having issues (especially up front) this season .

Portland was held at bay on the perimeter in this frame. After shooting  8 of 13 from deep in the  first half, the Thunder not only shut down the Blazers they limited their attempts by running them off the line (0-6 in the frame).

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Following up on the above comments regarding Plumlee, it appeared the Thunder game adjustment was to force Plumlee into being the lone Blazers scorer. OKC defenders stuck close to the guards and slacked off Plumlee electing to live with whatever offense he could muster. This resulted in Portland shooting 6 of 22 in the third quarter.  Portland missed 9 of their last 11 field goal attempts to finish the frame.

Heading into the final frame notably Andre Roberson was providing offense at a rare clip with 14 points, connecting on 6 of 7 field goals. Additionally, the OKC Thunder had scored 16 points off of 11 Blazers turnovers and continued to dominate fast break scoring 17 to 5.

Closing Frame:

Victor Oladipo decided to take over with Westbrook resting. To start the quarter he blocked a shot which somehow wasn’t registered by the score keeper. Around the 9:30 mark of the quarter Dipo took the lid off the basket hitting back to back threes with Lauvergne joining the party making it 3-in-a-row on the next play

The offensive outburst allowed Westbrook to rest until the 8:30 mark of the fourth quarter and reenter the game with OKC leading. Westbrook was well short of his typical rebounding figures, but it was also clear he wasn’t attacking the defensive glass today.

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In the past few games Westbrook took some hard knocks and with the back to back set perhaps he and the team chose not to expose him to additional bumps today. In spite of that, the Thunder were monsters on the boards capitalizing on their strength in that area finishing the game with a  56-44 edge.

Steven Adams delivered a head jarring screen on Evan Turner which has to be seen to be appreciated (3:11 of quarter).  Russell scored off the same play, but it was his three point shot which gave OKC a 7-point lead and his move that put Aminu on skates and was Smitty’s Top 5 worthy that had the Peake faithful oohing and ahhing.

Duo record Double-Double Performances:

Although Westbrook’s three iced the win and he scored 42 points it was the complete 2-way efforts of Andre Roberson and Victor Oladipo which stood out on the day.

Roberson: 14 points,11 rebounds, 1 assist, 3 steals and was a plus +9.

Oladipo: 24 points, 13 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, 2 blocks and was a plus +8

Other Notables:

• Although Adams fell short of recording a double-double he did register 7 points and 13 rebounds. Nine of his rebounds were collected on the offensive glass which means Adams has averaged 10 offensive rebounds in his last two outings.

• At game end the Thunder starting backcourt out performed the Blazers with Westbrook and Oladipo producing 66 points versus Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum’s 48 points.

• The Thunder out rebounded the Blazers 56-44

• OKC killed Portland in fast break scoring 23 to 5

• Points in the paint was also won by the Thunder 54 to 42

Key Adjustment:

In the first half the Blazers scored 8 three pointers in 13 attempts. Donovan adjusted the game plan in the second half with the Thunder holding Portland to 2 of 15 from the perimeter.

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The win keeps the Thunder a half game back of the Grizzlies by a small percentage. Next up the OKC Thunder are immediately back in action Monday night as they close out the back-to-back set versus the Indiana Pacers currently on a 6-game win streak.