OKC Thunder Film Room: Thunder go down 3-1 in series
By Rylan Stiles
The OKC Thunder fall behind three games to one and are on the verge of bowing out in the first round for the third straight year.
The OKC Thunder have not won consecutive playoff games since Kevin Durant left, and have left the playoffs in the first round every year since Durant’s departure.
All that stacks up against this game ripping off three straight wins to survive the first round of the NBA Playoffs, but technically they still have a shot.
The issues though, can not really be fixed right now. Portland has the two best players on the floor, and have a better coach.
The OKC Thunder refuse to attack Enes Kanter which makes Steven Adams a nonfactor and as we saw down the stretch in game two unplayable. If I wrote before the series Steven Adams would be the unplayable big man instead of Enes Kanter I would hope everyone would have laughed at me.
The Thunder are also trying to get into an iso ball standoff with the Blazers, but again, CJ McCollum is better than a banged up Paul George, and Damian Lillard is the far better player than Russell Westbrook despite the love and nostalgia we all have about Westbrook.
The Thunder were outrebounded, they allowed more points in the paint, they have more turnovers, and were blocked eight times.
Billy Donovan gets a D-, his only saving grace from a total F letter grade is the fact that he got an early get technical foul after the Blazers got a favorable whistle to start the contest, and since that message that Donovan rarely sends, the whistle was more balanced than it had been.
Stotts again gets a passing grade, but nothing spectacular. His two stars are just better, and to his credit, he put the series on their backs and they delivered. We will see Stotts coaching ability on display next round when Malone or Poppovich expose Enes Kanter and trap Damian Lillard and he is forced to come up with adjustments.