OKC Thunder Film Room: Thunder go down 3-1 in series

Morris and Schroder come to play.

The bench battle is the only battle that goes to the OKC Thunder. Dennis Schroder was the Thunder’s second leading scorer posting 17 points, on 50 percent from the floor, and two for six from the 3 point line.

Raymond Felton even made a pair of threes on his way to turning in eight points.

While Markieef Morris only scored once, a beautiful top of the key 3-pointer, he made the right basketball play a ton. and was all over the floor.

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Neither bench was great, and Zach Collins did play well off the bench for the Blazers, but the OKC Thunder had three guys who came in to give quality minutes compare to one of the Blazers.

Nerlens Noel was really good on the defensive end, but he could not find it offensively, which is the opposite from Noel’s normal game throughout his career.

Throughout sports, the backs against the wall comeback have been some magical experiences. I mean, look at the Warriors who overcame a 3-1 lead against the OKC Thunder only to blow a 3-1 to LeBron James and the Cavs to give the city of Cleveland it’s first championship in what felt like forever. The Red Sox came back from down 3-1 to go on and break a timeless curse that dated back to Babe Ruth days.

As Red Sox first baseman Kevin Millar said entering game five of that series “Don’t let the Sox win tonight. Put us away tonight. We have Pedro going today, Schilling going game six, then game seven anything can happen. We could throw you (the Boston Globe reporter Millar was speaking with) out there and win in game seven.”

Game sevens are unpredictable, and there would be a lot more pressure on the Blazers despite being at home than the Thunder if the series was prolonged that far. Every 3-1 series comeback has had a storyline. What better gut punch to the city of Portland who has seen their team get swept out of the first round each of the last two seasons than to blow a 3-1 lead in the same round?

It is unlikely, but not impossible. If the Thunder, who play their best with their backs against the wall win Tuesday, and the Chesapeake Energy Arena lifts them to a game six win, in the words of Kevin Millar “Game seven, anything can happen.”