OKC Thunder grades: Comeback too late vs Dame time

The OKC Thunder are just built different!

I would say that’s all. That’s the story. But this deserves some context because the Thunder provided a stunning and valiant effort against the Portland Trail Blazers in a near comeback victory.

If you were watching the game in the first half, maybe went away and caught the action again in the fourth quarter you might’ve been wondering if you were even watching the same game.

It wasn’t all pretty in the first half as OKC struggled offensively being down 34-21. Damian Lillard exploited the Thunder’s defense and made every bucket look so easy. He was just having a field day.

But that wasn’t all the Thunder had to look at stopping. One of OKC’s former favorite son’s in Enes Kanter was a menace under the rim, pulling down 21 rebounds. While Anfernee Simons and Gary Trent Jr. provided a scoring spark.

How the Thunder managed to climb back from 24 points down to take the lead in the last quarter is beyond me.

But it was incredible to watch Lu Dort and Hamidou Diallo dominate and play out of this world to get OKC back in front.

A three-pointer by Dort with five minutes left to play took the Thunder out to a 100-97 lead and we all got what we wanted down the stretch. Dame time against Dort.

Just like in every matchup he’s had with Lillard, Dort was full of fire, fight and was not backing down. But in true Dame fashion, he answered back and knocked down four straight three-pointers in the clutch to get his team across the line.

Not much could be said after that except that OKC is tough for persevering undermanned and that Lillard is just a bad man.