By Michael Doutey
The Oklahoma City Thunder falls to the Portland Trail Blazers 108-100 in Portland on Saturday night. The Thunder had their opportunities, but came up short. OKC was already in a tough spot playing on the second night of a back-to-back and the third game in four nights. The Thunder played hard and gave themselves a chance. Now, the Thunder have officially lost the season series with Portland, which is the second division team the Thunder has lost the season series to. The other is Minnesota, by the way. Here are tonight’s five observations.
1. Opportunities Missed
OKC had their chances to win this one, but missed opportunities really cost the Thunder in their comeback attempt. The first missed opportunity came with 3:28 to go in the game with the Thunder down five. OKC had made a run and cut the lead in half. Adams gathered an offensive rebound and kicked it out to Alex Abrines for an open three. Alex missed and the Trail Blazers scored on the next possession. Then, OKC cut the lead to four with 1:32 to go. The Thunder got a stop on defense, but turned the ball over on the next possession. That turnover made the comeback nearly impossible. Those missed opportunities cost OKC and that’s why OKC was handed another loss in Portland.
2. Out Rebounded
The Thunder typically win when they out-rebound the opposition. When they are out-rebounded, things typically don’t go OKC’s way. Portland won the battle of the boards 47-40. The Trail Blazers hurt the Thunder on the offensive glass, grabbing 14 offensive rebounds, several of which were tip ins. That ended up being a huge reason that the Thunder dropped this one. OKC did a good job of initial defense, but giving up offensive rebounds is backbreaking, especially when that results in immediate points. The Blazers forced OKC to taste some of their own medicine.
3. OKC Lost the 3 PT Battle
The Thunder really struggled from behind the arc, shooting just 6-27 (22.2 percent) from deep. Meanwhile, the Thunder held Portland to 11-33 (33.3 percent) from deep, which isn’t that bad. But OKC was outscored from three 33-18, which is a difference of 15 points. If OKC could have evened that number out by a few three’s, OKC might have won this game. But the Thunder really struggled in this department. Paul George went 0-7 from deep. Russell Westbrook was 1-5 from three. No one really shot the three well, which is another reason OKC ended up on the wrong side tonight.
4. Miscellaneous Observations
Patrick Patterson had a really nice night filling in for Carmelo Anthony. He scored an efficient 12 points on 5-8 shooting and connected on 2-3 from deep. He even provided decent defense. I wanted Pat to be the starter this summer. But he took a back seat to Melo and hasn’t exactly been used in a way that makes him most useful. Jerami Grant was great, scoring 13 points on 6-9 shooting. And Corey Brewer got minutes in his first game with the Thunder. He is a ball of energy and was a little overboard some tonight. He played hard and grabbed a couple steals but was held scoreless. I want to see him over the next couple weeks before I say what I think about this signing.
5. West Standings Update
1. Houston
2. Golden State .5
3. Portland 12.5
4. Minnesota 13
5. New Orleans 13.5
6. San Antonio 13.5
7. OKC 13.5
8. Denver 14.5
The Thunder is back in action on Tuesday night as they play host to the red hot Houston Rockets. Tip is set for 7 p.m. inside the Peake.
