OKC Thunder: 3 keys to winning season series versus Blazers

Bouncing back from bad losses:

In games the Blazers have lost by a differential of 10 or more points, they’ve rebounded in the next match six of nine times to capture the victory.

The Thunder have been in that situation on 20 occasions winning half of those matches after losing by 10 or more points.

Both teams played on Friday so have no rest advantage. The Blazers have won six of the 10 matches in the second games of back-to-back sets. OKC is .500 with five wins and five losses in those contests but has won the last three.

Who wins the boards and the paint battle?

The paint was a problem for the Thunder and the Blazers on Friday. Portland was outscored 58 to 24 in the paint. Similarly, the Thunder lost the points in the paint battle 56 to 38 to the Suns.

After dominating the boards against the Raptors (64 to 35) the Suns edged out OKC 41 to 38 but the Thunder won the offensive glass 11 to 6.

Likewise, the Blazers lost the rebounding battle 50 to 45 to the Bucks but won the offensive boards 13 to 4.

While the perimeter and scoring in the paint will be key whichever team wins the glass should gain the key advantage.