Game 1: OKC Thunder fails to compete with Portland three-point snipers

OKC Thunder Best Reserve:

Nerlens Noel was a huge difference on defense for OKC. He also put work in on the offensive boards to create second chance opportunities. Noel ended with 8 points and 5 offensive rebounds. While Dennis Schroder had more points tonight (11), Noel had a more dominating presence on the court to earn the best reserve for Game 1.

Best Opponent:

Enes Kanter gave Adams more trouble than we may have expected. He ended the night with 20 points and 18 rebounds, seven on offense and 11 defensive.

If OKC can’t find a way to shut him down throughout the series, his extra contributions are going to be detrimental. He’s averaging 9.8 rebounds this season and we allowed him to double that tonight.

Even though Lillard had a great performance with 30 points off 42.9 percent shooting, I chose Kanter because his presence was sometimes debilitating for Adams making a big difference.

Final Thoughts

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Despite Portland shooting 7 of 10 from deep in the first quarter, OKC doused the fire to hold them to only two 3-balls in the second quarter and two more in the entire second half.

Steven Adams will have to battle more with Kanter for offensive rebounds (Adams offensive: 6, Kanter defensive: 11).

OKC had 54 points in the paint and only lost by 5, proving we don’t need a stellar perimeter performance to thrive. Hopefully, they can adjust for Game 2.

There is still something wrong with Paul George, he had a better second half but his first half more than likely felt as painful as it looked for us.

Terrance Ferguson was either overcome by nerves or just didn’t have his head in the game. An extremely forgettable performance from him tonight.

This series needs to be a paint team versus the perimeter team. OKC is not consistent enough to beat Portland at the 3-point line, but they outscored them 54-42 down low.

Hopefully, a different OKC Thunder team will show up for Game 2 on Tuesday. Portland will still have home court advantage for the 9:30 PM CT tip-off.

Until then, stay tuned for analysis of what OKC can do to clear the slate with a win on Tuesday.

For the full box score of tonight’s game, click this ESPN link.