With visions of Thanksgiving dancing in their minds, the OKC Thunder served turkey early with their worst loss this year. Three takeaways offer insight into the loss.
After finally breaking through on the road with a win in San Francisco the OKC Thunder hit Portland with a perfect opportunity to string together a road win streak. After all the Blazers aren’t exactly feasting this season and have struggled on their home court the Moda Center. Instead, the Thunder served up their worst performance of the season.
Diving into the match a few things stood out and they make the three takeaway list for the night.
Melo Reunion:
You’ll never convince me Sam Presti’s move to add Carmelo Anthony to the Thunder was wise especially considering what his salary was at the time. That said, through five games Melo is proving he still deserves to be in this league and I’m happy for his success.
For a player with 16 years in the league, the manner in which he was treated by the Rockets was just plain wrong. He deserved better than that.
With the Blazers as crazy as it seems he appears to be the perfect fit. Part of that is because the Blazers are missing much depth up front and part of it is because the Portland backcourt can space the floor – both being reliable 3-point shooters.
Through five games he is posting double-digit scoring
- Pelicans: 10 points
- Bucks: 18 points
- Cavaliers: 25 points
- Bulls: 11 points
- Thunder: 19 points
- Average Point Total: 16.6 points
In addition, Melo is averaging five rebounds and shooting the deep ball at a 37.5 percent efficiency. Granted his box plus/minus is negative both offensively and defensively but in fairness, he’s still getting accustomed to Portland’s systems and Damian Lillard was missing in the initial two games Melo played in (which coincidently were losses).
At game end, Melo was down talking to the few Thunder players who remain with the franchise from his time spent with them and sharing some laughs.
The major knock on Anthony is his defense but he’s never been a stalwart on that side of the floor. Hey, Dame and CJ aren’t defensive killers either but the Blazers made that work for several seasons.
Ultimately, whether this is Carmelo Anthony’s last season or he stretches his stay in Portland out longer the bottom line is THIS was how he was meant to end his days in the NBA; not sitting at home watching the games in his hoodie.