The Oklahoma City Thunder have dominated the Portland Trail Blazers in recent seasons, including a historic 62-point victory last January.
The Thunder strive to keep the success going and increase their winning streak over Portland to 13 games when they visit the Trail Blazers on Friday night.
The 139-77 victory on Jan. 11 tied for the fifth-largest defeat in NBA history and is the second-worst loss in Trail Blazers’ history. Portland shot 27.7 percent from the field.
That wasn’t the lone massive beatdown during the Thunder’s four victories last season. Oklahoma City also posted a 134-91 road win on Nov. 19, 2023.
Portland’s most recent victory in the series was a 133-85 home rout on April 3, 2021, when Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum were still the Trail Blazers’ starting backcourt.
Oklahoma City, of course, is a much different team 3 1/2 seasons later and has won its first four games this season by an average of 17.5 points. The Thunder are the lone undefeated team in the Western Conference. The Cleveland Cavaliers in the East are also unbeaten.
The Thunder kept their strong start going Wednesday with a 105-93 home victory over the San Antonio Spurs. Oklahoma City big man Chet Holmgren decidedly won his matchup with San Antonio’s Victor Wembanyama.
Holmgren had 19 points on 7-of-10 shooting while Wembanyama had just six points on 1-of-5 shooting.
Holmgren wasn’t moved by his domination, saying hype about the matchup is fueled by the NBA’s promotion arm. Wembanyama won NBA Rookie of the Year honors last season while Holmgren was the runner-up.
“Because the NBA is a business, and the league has been built around players playing basketball,” Holmgren said. “It’s about getting people to come and watch the games. That’s one of the ways they do it: by advertising the players. I just see it as a form of advertisement. It doesn’t change what our mission is. We’re trying to win the basketball games. The NBA is gonna handle the business around it.”
Holmgren is averaging 22.5 points, 11 rebounds and 3.5 blocks through four games.
Oklahoma City star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who averaged more than 30 points per game each of the past two seasons, is averaging a team-leading 26 through four games. He is also contributing 7.5 rebounds, 6.0 assists, 2.5 steals and 1.5 blocks.
Jalen Williams is also off to a strong start with averages of 17 points, seven rebounds and six assists.
The contest is the first of a road back-to-back for the Thunder. They visit the Los Angeles Clippers on Saturday night.
Portland faced the Clippers on the road Wednesday and nabbed a 106-105 victory.
Anfernee Simons scored 25 points for his third 20-point outing of the season. He is averaging a team-best 20.6 points and is second with five assists per game.
Big man Deandre Ayton had 15 points and 12 rebounds and also made a key steal by intercepting a last-second lob toward the Clippers’ Ivica Zubac.
“There’s no better way to win a game than with your defense, in my opinion,” Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups said.
Ayton has recorded five straight double-doubles to start the season.
“When D.A. is playing like that, it helps us out so much,” Simons said. “He was playing with a lot of energy, rolling to the basket and getting easy putbacks off misses and that’s what we need from him every night.”
Jerami Grant has experienced back-to-back poor efforts after averaging 26 points over his first three games. He had just seven points on 3-of-12 shooting in a 111-98 road loss to the Sacramento Kings on Monday and eight points on 3-of-14 shooting against the Clippers.
