OKC Thunder vs Portland Trail Blazers: Whose bench mob will feast?
Portland Trail Blazers bench:
Quite the contrast to OKC, Portland’s bench spends quite a bit of time on the court. They rank No. 9 in the league averaging 19 minutes per game. That’s only about 3 minutes more than OKC, but in game minutes that’s a wide gap.
Their bench plays more into their rotations, meaning more on-court experience which would, in turn, mean a better efficiency on the court and more opportunity to contribute. Portland averages 36 points from the bench off 45.9 percent shooting. Six points isn’t a huge differential, but with the way OKC Thunder tends to come down to the wire, six extra points could be the winning factor.
The Portland bench attempts around 11 three-pointers per game, so honing in on the perimeter would be a smart adjustment through this series. They also average 5.3 turnovers per game, a stat that could increase with OKC’s pressure defense heckling them for at least four more games.
Portland’s bench also out-rebounds us statistically, 17.6 to 13. After watching Morris in game 82, I would be willing to argue this statistic wouldn’t stand during this series.
On a statistical standpoint, Portland’s bench outshines OKC Thunder, but I chalk that up to our inconsistency. Numbers don’t always reflect the actual game-changing moves from the bench so at the end of the day, it is still anyone’s ballgame.