After leading by double-digits and getting the Oklahoma City Thunder in the penalty midway through the third quarter, the Portland Trail Blazers appeared to run out of gas, failing to hit a shot within 15 feet for 17 minutes of game time. Down 10 with just over a minute to go, a series of unlikely events unfolded to push the game to overtime, where the Blazers prevailed against every obstacle to best the Thunder 115-111.
Recap
The Blazers looked, out of rhythm, tired, and shorthanded in the first quarter… which isn’t a surprise, considering they were out two starters and playing their fourth game in five nights on the road. The Thunder built a lead that stretched to as many as nine points, and the Blazers faced a 26-19 deficit heading into the second quarter.
However; the Blazers, led by Damian Lillard, stormed back to take control, building an 11-point lead of their own even as LaMarcus Aldridge struggled and Russell Westbrook spat fire for the Thunder. The Blazers took a 54-43 lead into halftime.
The lead stretched to 13 before the Thunder went on a huge run and cut the lead to two halfway through the third. The Thunder were already in the penalty at this point, but their smothering defensive effort forced the Blazers into long jumpers instead of shots at the rim. The Blazers got a few threes to fall to bail them out of an otherwise disastrous quarter in which the Thunder outscored them 30-19 to knot the game at 73 apiece.
The Thunder put up five quick points to go up 78-73 early in the fourth, and things didn’t look good. The Thunder were slicing and dicing and getting to the rim while the Blazers were being pushed further and further away from the basket: they hadn’t scored inside 15 feet since 10 minutes to go in the third quarter. Meanwhile, the Thunder had fresher legs and a better game pace, and the Blazers wilted.
Just when it was all but over, the Thunder up 10 points with 90 seconds left, Westbrook got a technical foul arguing a call, giving Lillard three free throws… then Lillard hit a huge three to draw the Blazers to within four with less than a minute left. Both teams traded buckets, and with just six seconds left the Blazers drew within two. Westbrook missed a free throw, leaving the door ever-so-slightly open. The Blazers had the ball, down three, with five seconds left. The inbound pass went to an astonishingly open Lillard at the exact same spot where he hit the three in game six against Houston… and he hit it again. Westbrook got a look but missed, and against all odds the game went to OT.
The Thunder struck first, but Aldridge got the and-1 to put the Blazers up one. Then Wesley Matthews hit a three and it was a 4-point lead. Westbrook hit, Matthews responded, and Westbrook countered, both teams giving it all they had. The Blazers were up two when Lillard drew a shooting foul and put them up 108-104 with 2:40 left to go. Westbrook struck again, but Lillard hit a deep three, giving the Blazers a 5-point lead. The Thunder hit, and Lillard took it right to the rim and drew the foul. He hit both, restoring the 5-point lead, and the Blazers got the stop and scored again on a Dorell Wright tip. With the Blazers now up seven and time running out, Aldridge and Serge Ibaka got into a kerfuffle that resulted in both getting ejected. The Blazers gave up a meaningless three and walked off the court winners, 115-111.
Players
Damian Lillard can’t be human. He just can’t be. No human forces overtime twice in one week with 40-point performances. The eight threes he made tonight were a single-game career-high for him. Did I mention he had 11 assists and six rebounds? Words can’t describe what Lillard did in the closing moments of regulation and OT. It was otherworldly.
LaMarcus Aldridge wasn’t even a guarantee to play up until just before the game, but he battled through an upper-respiratory illness to score 25 points for the Trail Blazers, though it was not his prettiest performance.
Wesley Matthews, like Lillard, was hot from deep. He connected on five of eight three-point attempts and finished the game with 22 points. He, Lillard, and Aldridge were the only Trail Blazers to score more than six points in the contest.
Notes
- This game was over. Done. The Blazers were dead in the water. There was no chance. And yet… still… they somehow not only put themselves in a position to win, they actually won. Even when the Blazers were down by six in overtime to the Spurs, not once but twice, their energy was high enough to give you the impression that they could pull it out. In this game, the Blazers looked flat from midway through the third until the waning moments of the fourth. It felt hopeless. It looked hopeless. And still… they somehow made it happen.
- The Blazers bench was outscored 19-46. Lillard, Aldridge, and Matthews combined for 87 of the team’s 115 points. That cannot happen every night, but it was entirely necessary for this victory.
- In what was supposed to be their toughest road trip of the season, the Blazers went 3-1, losing only the game in which Aldridge did not play. That speaks volumes for the reality of their elite standing.
They now get to come home for some well earned rest and time with their families before playing the Philadelphia 76ers on Friday December 26th at 7:00 p.m. PST.