NBA 2018/19: 3 Talking Points From the Oklahoma City Thunder vs Portland Trail Blazers match

The Thunder broke the six-game losing streak to the Trail Blazers and the near five-year losing streak in Portland by winning 111-109
The Thunder broke the six-game losing streak to the Trail Blazers and the near five-year losing streak in Portland by winning 111-109

On Friday January 4th, 2019 the Western Conference’s third and fifth best teams, the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Portland Trail Blazers, met in Portland. This was the first contest between these two North West Division rivals this season.

The Thunder who lost all four contests to Portland last season were looking to break that streak tonight after winning Wednesday night against the Lakers and were on a two-game win streak.

As for the Trail Blazers, they have beaten the Thunder six consecutive times and were looking to make it seven in a row.

The Trail Blazers were coming off of a 113-108 overtime victory over the Sacramento Kings and were also on a two-game winning streak.

Trailblazers' center Jusuf Nurkic had an outstanding effort recording 24 points, 23 rebounds, seven assists, five steals, and 5 blocked shots in that win against Sacramento.

Tonight, however, the Thunder trailing 62-57 at halftime used a 36 point third quarter to get control of the game leading 93-87 after three quarters.

This was a close game throughout and Portland were only down by two possessions 109-103 with 1:57 to play.

C.J. McCollum hit a foul line jumper with 1:07 to play. After Paul George was stripped, on the next possession Lillard was fouled on a three-point shot attempt with 42.8 seconds to play and made two of three foul shots bringing the Trailblazers to within two points.

Westbrook missed his next shot. Portland did as well when Lillard missed a runner and McCollum missed a second chance shot.

Paul George made two free throws with just 4.3 seconds on the clock giving the Thunder a 111-107 lead. The Thunder broke the six-game losing streak to the Trail Blazers and the near five-year losing streak in Portland by winning 111-109.

The talking points from this matchup are as follows:


#3 The all-star point guard matchup

Both teams are driven by potential MVP candidates at the point guard spot in Damian Lillard and Russell Westbrook
Both teams are driven by potential MVP candidates at the point guard spot in Damian Lillard and Russell Westbrook

Both of these teams are similarly constructed. Both have a tough rebounding center who dominate around the basket in Jusuf Nurkic and Steven Adams.

Both teams have a complimentary star perimeter wing players in C.J. McCollum and Paul George.

Both teams are driven by potential MVP candidates at the point guard spot in Damian Lillard and Russell Westbrook. This was the key one on one matchup to watch in this game.

Coming into this game Lillard was averaging 26.7 points and 5.8 assists on 45% field goal shooting and 39% from behind the arc in 38 games.

Russell Westbrook, a walking triple-double was averaging 20.7 points, 10.1 assists and 10.9 rebounds in 29 games.

It was Westbrook who won this match up scoring 31 points, dishing 7 assists and grabbing 9 rebounds. Lillard ended with a -8 for the game and had 23 points on 7/19 shooting as his shot went cold late in the third quarter. Lillard did distribute 8 assists in this game.

#2 The Streak is over

The Trail Blazers seemed to have the Thunder’s number because its actually two winning streaks they had against their rivals
The Trail Blazers seemed to have the Thunder’s number because its actually two winning streaks they had against their rivals

The Portland Trail Blazers came into this game having won six straight matches against their divisional and Western Conference rivals the Oklahoma City Thunder.

The streak includes victories in all four matches these two teams played against each other last year.

The Trail Blazers seemed to have the Thunder’s number because its actually two winning streaks they had against their rivals. Not only had they won six straight against OKC but they had not lost to OKC since 2014 in Portland.

With both teams finding themselves in the top five in playoff rankings out west this season, this contest was a prize fight of sorts among basketball games.

The Thunder came into this game with a record of 24-13 and in secondnd overall in the Western Conference. The Trail Blazers were fifth with a record of 22-16. Both teams came into this contest on two-game winning streaks.

Tonight’s game saw the Trail Blazers start a new one-game losing streak and their dominance over the Thunder has ended for the moment as OKC won in Portland for the first time since 2014.

The 111-109 victory is also the first time in seven games overall against the Trail Blazers that the Thunder are the winners.

It seems a little odd that the schedule makers for the NBA did not have these two divisional rivals meet before now when the NBA season is nearly half over in terms of games played.

However, with teams sure to get serious about playoff positioning, the January 22nd, February 11th and March 3rd, 2019 matchups between these potential playoff-bound teams become very important to playoff seeding.

#1 The Numbers (Stats)

Not only are these two teams evenly matched based on roster composition, but they are similar by the numbers as well
Not only are these two teams evenly matched based on roster composition, but they are similar by the numbers as well

Not only are these two teams evenly matched based on roster composition, but they are similar by the numbers as well.

The Thunder average 111.9 points per game and give up 105.4 points per game. The Trail Blazers score 111.3 points per game and give up about 110.4 points per game. They are very similar in most categories.

One area where the Trailblazers excel and OKC is average is free throw shooting. OKC normally shoots 70% from the free throw line while the Trailblazers shoot 81% from the free throw line.

However, in this game, while Portland shot 18/23 for 85.7% from the line the Thunder were 17% better than their average from the charity stripe going 23/26 at 88.5%. Paul George was 12/14 from the charity stripe.

In making their freebies the Thunder helped their cause as they stayed close to Portland on the scoreboard until the late third quarter when they took control of the game.

Another area in which these two teams differ stats wise is in fast break points. The Thunder average 17.5 fast break points per game and the Trail Blazers usually allow opponents to score 14.8 fast break points per game.

In tonight’s game, the Thunder got 18 fast break points and the Trailblazers were limited to just 8.

This was a good game to watch between two evenly matched teams. Currently, the Thunder are second and the Trail Blazers are fifth in the Western Conference and could potentially be a first round matchup.

As mentioned earlier, they will face each other three more times in the second half of the season when teams are serious about their playoff seeding. This divisional rivalry should be one to enjoy for the rest of the season.

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Edited by Alan John