The OKC Thunder lost for the sixth consecutive time at the Moda Center, 114-109. Here’s a breakdown of all the action.
Starting unit struggles mightily
On a night where Russell Westbrook went for 45 points on 12-36 from the field, the rest of the Thunder’s starting lineup didn’t do their part. The quartet of Alex Abrines, Steven Adams, Andre Roberson, and Domantas Sabonis combined for a grand total of 12 points, 10 rebounds and 2 assists. This is a statline more fitting for a player, not four starters.
For what it’s worth, Abrines had 6 of said 12 points. However he only played a grand total of 10 minutes because of foul trouble. Sabonis also played 10 minutes, explaining the limited impact he had. But the performances from Adams and Roberson were just putrid.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T | |
| Trail Blazers | 26 | 31 | 24 | 33 | 114 |
| Thunder | 24 | 36 | 25 | 24 | 109 |
Adams kept losing the ball, and ended the game with three turnovers and five fouls, while also finishing with a team worst -23 +/-. MINUS TWENTY THREE IN JUST TWENTY FOUR MINUTES. Adams was completely dominated by the Trailblazers’ Bosnian center Jusuf Nurkić, who ended the game with a monstrous statline of 18 points, 12 rebounds, 6 assists, 5 blocks and 2 steals.
Roberson, in the meanwhile, just kept dribbling the ball on offense for the most part, and seemed afraid to shoot. He missed both of his attempts on the night.
Shoutout to the second unit
The revamped bench was nothing short of exceptional tonight.
The Thunder’s bench outscored the bench 52-33 in an effort led by Enes Kanter’s 18 point double-double and Gibson’s 15 points. Norris Cole made his debut tonight and scored 7 points in 11 minutes. Doug McDermott didn’t shoot well tonight, and ended the game with 9 points on 4-12 FG while also going 1-6 from 3.
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The bench played a huge part in this game and played more total minutes than the starting lineup did. Expect more performances like this from the Thunder’s second unit in coming games this season.
First half recap
The Thunder started this game badly and were down 22-10 with 5 minutes to go in the first quarter. OKC would then make up for that by going on a 14-4 run to end the quarter down by a mere 2 points.
The start of the second quarter was more of a shootout, where both teams would just match each others shots. The Blazers were up by 9 with 1:20 to go. The Thunder had other ideas, however, and went on a 12-0 run capped by this magnificent shot from none other than OKC’s newest player, Taj Gibson.
Second half recap
The third quarter started similarly to the second quarter, but both teams were within 5 at all times. The Thunder outscored the Blazers by a single point, and were up by four heading into the fourth.
Coming into this game Oklahoma City was 24-2 when leading after three quarters. It seemed that another win was coming when OKC was up 101-94 with 5:42 to go.
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However, their offense completely froze for almost 5 minutes and the Blazers went on a 16-0 run to go up 110-101 with 1:37 to go. The Thunder tried to claw back into it with an 8-0 run in 40 seconds, but alas.
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Lillard, who ended the game with 33 points on 11-23 shooting, made four game sealing free throws in the dying seconds of the fourth. The Thunder will have to deal with another heartbreaking loss in the Rose City.
Concluding thoughts
This was an awful game overall, with the Thunder shooting 39.5% from the field.
The starting unit underperformed, the ball movement was severely lacking, and the defense got burned terribly. OKC had only 11 team assists and the Blazers shot 49.4% from the field and 40% from 3. All in all, this was a forgettable road loss that must be learned from.
The Thunder play the Phoenix Suns next at Talking Stick Resort Arena on Friday at 7 P.M. ET.