Two all-star point guards, both match each other statistically, but one of them has something extra.
The Portland Trail Blazers roll into Oklahoma City after losing to the Rockets the night prior to finish up this brutal four-game road trip.
I cannot believe I am typing this, but the Blazers beat the Thunder 115-111 in overtime on Tuesday night to go 3-1 on the road trip. The Blazers improve to 23-7 on the season (second-best record in the NBA behind Golden State), 11-5 on the road. The Thunder fall to 13-16 on the season and 7-7 at home.
The reason I am shocked is how Portland managed to pull this off. The Thunder were playing without superstar Kevin Durant due to ankle injury. However, in my opinion, that just made it even as Portland was without Robin Lopez (fractured hand) and Nicolas Batum (right wrist). Both teams were hurt and playing unconventional line-ups, but it was still going to be a tough matchup.
I mentioned in my previous blog post that Russell Westbrook has been having a ridiculous week and a half. His explosiveness seems to be at an all-time high and his confidence seems to be overwhelming, to a fault. Regardless, Westbrook has been putting up MVP-type numbers averaging 29.3 points, 6.4 rebounds, 7.4 assists and 2.1 steals in the month of December. His FG% is 45% during the month as well. However, he has had some questionable decisions late in ball games, particularly in the Thunder’s previous game against the New Orleans Pelicans. In the fourth quarter of that game, Westbrook was 2-for-9, 0-for-3 from three with just five points. The only person close to getting that amount of touches was Reggie Jackson who was 3-for-5.
Westbrook has a tendency to be over-confident and make quick decisions that might not be the best in the moment. For example, he’ll have one to two minute sequences where he will take multiple shots extremely early in the shot clock and in a bad spot. While Westbrook is certainly capable of making those shots, most of the time those shots are misses unless he is in a zone. What this all means is that when Westbrook decides to “try” to take over, it is a roll of the dice. Sometimes it works and sometimes it fails horribly to the point where he actually shoots his team out of the game. The problem is you cannot just leave him on the bench. He has too much talent and too much skill to just completely ignore. So, the Thunder take the extremely good with the bad at times. However, in the past two games for the Thunder, New Orleans and Portland, Westbrook has definitely been more of a detriment to his team at the end rather than a savior. But, he may have been the only reason they were in the game to begin with.
Before I get too far ahead of myself, Portland played a phenomenal game. It was gutsy and showed growth. LaMarcus Aldridge has been dealing with an upper respiratory illness and did not feel good at all going into the game in Oklahoma City. However, with Batum having to sit out, LA forced himself to play. The only two starting line-up members that were at full strength were Damian Lillard and Wesley Matthews. Portland has been going through a patch of strange injury combinations and colds (wash your hands!). However, Portland has figured out a way to continue to win ballgames when they needed to.
Portland threw their first real punch in the second quarter. The Blazers shot 61% from the field and 75% from three-point land. Lillard had a whopping 19 points on 6-for-8 shooting, 4-for-5 from three with three assists. Lillard was on fire. One sequence that comes to mind was when Lillard dribbled up to just past the Thunder logo on the court. Westbrook, guarding him, was standing past the three-point line. Lillard squared him up and buried a three from near half court. It was that kind of night where Lillard could have hit from anywhere. We are witnessing a star starting blossom. It is finally showing in how Lillard has taken over games and has been doing it on both ends and in a multitude of ways. While that shot was impressive, what was to come later would be even more so.
The Blazers would go on to take an 11-point lead into halftime and looked to be in control. However, the Thunder struck back and outscored Portland 30-19 in the third quarter. Portland went ice cold shooting just 33% from the field, however, the three-pointer was covering up a multitude of their problems. They went 3-for-5 in the quarter. The Thunder locked down defensively. They started playing some zone and double-teaming the ball-handler every time down. On the other end, Portland’s defense looked out of sorts. The lane seemed to be a lot more open for the Thunder to run their guards down for easy buckets. Furthermore, Serge Ibaka discovered his three-point shot by swishing two. After all the action happened, however, Portland and the Thunder were tied. Portland was able to keep up, again, thanks to the three-point shot.
The fourth quarter was a whirlwind. Let me start by dropping this one statistic. The Thunder had a 95-85 lead with 1:32 remaining. In most games, that is a win. That is making buckets when it mattered and doing what needs to be done to close out ballgames. Well, the game started to unravel for the Thunder. First, Westbrook was called for a technical foul for arguing his fifth foul. So, not only was Lillard going to the line, but he had a chance a three-point play without the clock moving. This would cut the lead to seven. It was an unnecessary argument to have with the referee. Westbrook was called for the foul, yet he felt the need to argue. My opinion is that it was not necessarily how he talked or his manner; it was the quantity and how many times he had argued prior to that situation occurring. He had been on the referees all game, arguing every call (or non-call) against him.
The Thunder would turn the ball over on their time down and Lillard would drain a three-pointer from the left wing over two defenders to make it a four-point game with 1:05 remaining. Westbrook did respond with a bucket of his own and it looked to be the dagger. After an Aldridge lay-up and two crunch time foul shots, Portland was only down by two. However, they were forced to foul due to not having enough time. Westbrook would miss one foul shot giving Portland a shot.
With :03 left, Lillard would start in the right corner and curl around to the left wing. Sound familiar? While it was not the exact same play, it did look similar to the game six buzzer-beater in the playoffs. This time, however, Lillard had an easier trek and look at the shot. Lillard beat Ibaka to the left wing and hoisted a three that soared and swished tying the game at 98. What was so impressive was the fact that the Thunder knew what play Portland was going to run, yet Lillard still got open and made the shot again.
The Thunder still had time to steal the game away, but Portland played great defense on Westbrook and pushed him way outside the three-point line resulting in a desperation three that did not have a chance.
Overtime was all Portland for a couple of reasons. One, Westbrook had five fouls and quickly picked up his sixth and fouled out in overtime. After Westbrook fouled out, the Thunder would only make two more baskets in overtime. Portland iced it with a three-pointer by Lillard, once again to put Portland up by five with 2:08 remaining. Portland just played defense and the Thunder ran out of options. The Blazers stole this game out from under the Thunder’s noses.
From the recap, it is easy to say that this game was dominated by the two point guards for both teams, Westbrook and Lillard. However, Lillard had something extra that Westbrook lost down the stretch, poise. Westbrook went into one of those phases where he tried to take the game over, yet it resulted in misses and missed opportunities for the Thunder to not only get a better shot, but to run the clock down and force Portland to play defense. Similar to the New Orleans game, the Thunder had a lead and Westbrook lost it. He went 3-for-8, 0-for-2 from three in the fourth quarter in eight minutes of play with seven points. Jackson, on the other hand, had nine points on 4-for-5 shooting, 1-for-1 from three with two assists. Westbrook had zero assists. Jackson ran the offense for four minutes of the fourth quarter and that was when the Thunder jumped ahead. Westbrook came in when the Thunder was up five, but players like Nick Collison, Anthony Marrow and Jackson were all getting shots. Once Westbrook decided to start shooting, the ball movement ceased and good plays ceased. It involved Westbrook in an isolation situation in a post-up or trying to get around his defender. But, Russell never passed out of it or looked to his teammates for help. Again, Westbrook had zero assists. While arguing with the referee ultimately cost them the game with that extra point, which was not even the biggest issue. It was the overall issue of Westbrook not having trust in his teammates, thinking he is the one who does it all and having too much confidence in himself that bad shots are taken. Ultimately, it was Westbrook who lost his composure and lost the game, not the Thunder.
Portland’s highest scorer was Lillard who had 40 points on 11-for-21 shooting, 8-for-12 from three with 11 assists, six rebounds and two steals. Lillard has been absolutely tearing it up on this road trip. He scored 40 or more points in two of the four games and has taken them both over when it looked bleak for Portland. Should Portland rely on that constantly? No. But the fact that Lillard can now do that and finish the job is something spectacular. Lillard and Westbrook both scored 40 points, but Lillard took 13 fewer shots and also made eight threes. Amazing play and countless clutch buckets in all kinds of way.
LA, battling a stuffy nose and not feeling great at all, finished with 25 points on 9-for-28 shooting, with nine rebounds, one assists and one steal. No surprise that LA had a rough shooting night. Not only was he not healthy, but Ibaka is tough to score on anyway. However, what LA had to play through and what he produced for Portland was needed. In my opinion, Aldridge needed to play more-so for his rebounding and defense rather than his offense. I was not too worried that he missed shots mainly because he got nine rebounds and gave Portland second opportunities that they needed. The 25 points was nice and, honestly, more than I thought he had in him.
Matthews had a quiet, but good game. He finished with 22 points on 11-for-21 shooting, 5-for-8 from three with two rebounds, two assists and one steal. Matthews is getting to the point where if he gets open from three, he usually hits it. In his last ten games he has been shooting 47% from the field. On the season, he has been shooting 39% from three.
Two big differences helped Portland to the victory, the FT line and three-point shot. Portland went 17-for-31 and shot 55% from three. The Thunder only went 6-for-19 and shot 32% from three. Portland went 22-for-24 from the FT line, while the Thunder was 13-for-15. Portland attempted nine more shots and scored nine more points from the line alone. There was an issue in the second quarter where Portland was in the penalty with 5:45 remaining. Yet, they did not take full advantage of it. While it could have been great Thunder defense, the Blazers all of sudden decided the rim was not an option.
Well, the trip is over and the Blazers come out of it feeling pretty good. They go 3-1 and beat three tough Western Conference opponents. Now, Portland gets a rest and because they went 3-1, head coach Terry Stotts is giving the team Christmas day off. Portland will have a nice stretch coming up were nine of their next twelve games are at home including a seven-game home-stand starting on Friday against the Philadelphia 76ers. Tip-off is at 7:00 p.m. PST. Portland should build a nice cushion over these next few games, time to take care of business. Stay tuned and Merry Christmas!