OKC Thunder starts post-season with a hideous game, but only lose by five points. Player grades offers the recap and look at the individual struggles.
You ever had one of those days where everything you do is just off? OKC Thunder can relate.
The Thunder ended the half shooting 35.4 percent in the field compared to a startling 70 percent perimeter performance from Portland in the first quarter
As the seconds ticked away OKC Thunder showed a little bit of life, inching back within 6 points despite a brief 19-point Portland lead making it 54-48 at intermission.
Just before the buzzer sounded Westbrook was tagged with a controversial offensive foul, further solidifying the awful luck clouding OKC.
Despite battling even more offensive foul calls, OKC was only down seven points to start the final chapter of the horror story of a series-opener. They flirted with the lead pretty much the whole fourth quarter, before costly offensive rebounds for Portland in the final two minutes sealed the deal for Game 1.
There were so many opportunities for OKC to close the gap and force a tied score, but those opportunities were wasted with 3-point attempts. The team ended the game shooting a disgusting 15.2 percent from deep. George and Terrance Ferguson were the only OKC players to connect from deep, while Portland sunk 11-of-25.
Lack of defensive rebounds down the stretch also diminished any chance at a final-second comeback.
Paul George was obviously not healthy enough to play this game and the 3-ball wouldn’t fall for anyone else either. We caught glimpses of the flawless PnR action from Adams, but not nearly enough.
The bright side of this game is that OKC had quite frankly their worst performance of the season and still only lost by five points. Damian Lillard shined at the free throw line to take away any chance of the buzzer-beater comeback.
These teams couldn’t have been more opposite in this series-opener. Portland continued to the assault from deep as OKC Thunder had one of their worst perimeter performances of the season. With that, let’s analyze the individual performances of Game 1.