The Portland Trail Blazers won their most bizarre win of the season on Tuesday night in Oklahoma City, 115-104.
Yes, the team’s 123-122 victory in Chicago on January 30, when Damian Lillard made two trios in the final seconds, remains the team’s most dramatic win of the season.
But what happened on Tuesday was totally surreal.
Portland dominated the exhausted Thunder (11-16) for most of the game and built a 24-point lead in the third quarter, only to watch Oklahoma City slowly split up before taking the 102-97 lead with 4:48 remaining.
“I thought Oklahoma City was back in the game with a lot of work,” said Portland coach Terry Stotts. “They got some offensive rebounds, some balls lost. We were not alert in the transition and they received many of those energy baskets that brought them back to the game. As soon as they got back in the game, they were feeling very confident, they made three out of three three. And this is where the dynamics of the game changed for them. “
Up to that point, the Blazers had been defeated 23-4 in the final quarter and Damian Lillard was having one of his worst shooting nights of the season of three, sitting at 1 out of 10.
Before Thunder made its run, Lillard said he thought to himself that the Blazers seemed to be in control and would need a little run to get the game on the ice.
Instead, with 4:48 left, Lillard said he looked at the scoreboard and decided he would have to impose his will in the final minutes.
“And if it doesn’t work, I’ll be the deciding factor in that,” said Lillard.
Oh, it worked. And then some.
In about 90 seconds, Lillard hit a three, then found Gary Trent Jr. open for a three and then hit three more, this time from the gradual variety. This 9-0 explosion allowed the Blazers to regain the lead in 106-102 with 3:15 remaining.
But Lillard is not finished. He hit another one in the face, took a step back, 8 meters and then received an assist on a pass to Robert Covington, who hit a three. Then Lillard went even further to hit a 30 foot three that made the score 115-104 with 51.8 seconds remaining.
In all, Lillard had 4 of 4 trios and had assists in two other trios to start and finish an 18-2 run to close the game. And he did it all with a knee pain, which happened after he hit his knees with a Thunder player at the end of the third period.
Lillard said the contact made his leg look “dead”, but he was not seriously injured. He hadn’t even asked to leave the game, but Stotts pulled him in anyway because the coaches wanted to take a look at him. Lillard said he always planned to return and did so.
“It’s just painful,” he said when asked how his knee felt after the game.
Stotts, clearly impressed by Lillard’s late-game performance, said he was also proud of how the team played defense in the final minutes.
“We were able to squeeze things out defensively and then make some big shots,” said Stotts.
WHAT IT MEANS
Portland (17-10) won their fifth consecutive game, the Blazers’ longest winning streak of the season, and in the process drew with Phoenix (17-10) for fourth place in the Western Conference. The Suns lost 128-124 to Brooklyn (17-13) on Tuesday night.
PRESENTED AND SHOWN
Lillard hit 12 of 25 shots for 31 points, plus 10 assists and seven rebounds.
Center Enes Kanter hit just 2 of 10 shots to score eight points, but had 21 rebounds, seven on the offensive side.
Oklahoma City Thunder center back Al Horford gets his hand on the ball while Portland Trail Blazers center Enes Kanter (11) shoots in the second half of an NBA basketball game on Tuesday, February 16, 2021 , in Oklahoma City. (AP Photo / Sue Ogrocki)AP
“Whenever I’m there, I tell my team-mates to kick the ball with confidence and, if you get it wrong, I’ll get it,” said Kanter.
Trent continued to play well, hitting 8 of 16 shots and 3 of 8 trios for 19 points. He also had four assists.
Anfernee Simons left the bench to score 15 points before dropping out in the fourth period. He did 5 of 8 trios.
SHOWN AND FIZZLED
Carmelo Anthony had a bad night, hitting just 4 of 14 shots and 1 of 4 trios to finish with 10 points.
NASSIR LITTLE
Stotts, for the second consecutive game, went to attack Nassir Little early in the game and the move was worth it. Little played five of his 17 minutes in the first quarter and scored five points. He played another six minutes in the second half and added five more points. On the night, he hit 5 out of 5 shots and 3 out of 3 trios.
It was his best outing since Little scored 30 points during the team’s 134-106 loss in Milwaukee on February 1. In four games this month, Little, a first round pick in 2019, made 9 out of 12 trios.
“There wasn’t a guy who shot more at the gym than Naz,” said Stotts. “I think it’s proof of your hard work. He arrived as a novice, not known as a sniper, and he knew this was something he needed to work on. And he obviously has. “
NEXT (Blazers Agenda)
The Blazers will conclude their three-game trip on Wednesday in New Orleans before returning home to Washington on Saturday.
– Aaron Fentress | afentress@Oregonian.com | @AaronJFentress (Twitter), @AaronJFentress (Instagram), @AaronFentress (Facebook).
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