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Blazers beat Thunder in OKC, 108-105, sweep season series

By Matt George Moore

OKLAHOMA CITY, OK - MARCH 25: Oklahoma City Thunder Forward Paul George (13) playing defense against Portland Trail Blazers Guard CJ McCollum (3) on March 25, 2018 at Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. (Photo by Torrey Purvey/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
OKLAHOMA CITY, OK - MARCH 25: Oklahoma City Thunder Forward Paul George (13) playing defense against Portland Trail Blazers Guard CJ McCollum (3) on March 25, 2018 at Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. (Photo by Torrey Purvey/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
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The Blazers and Thunder entered Sunday’s match-up in Oklahoma City heading in opposite directions: Portland had lost two straight, while OKC had won seven of its last eight.

The Portland Trail Blazers beat the Oklahoma City Thunder Sunday, 108-105. It was a huge win for the Blazers. They swept the Thunder for the first time since they moved to Oklahoma City. And the victory re-established Portland’s firm hold on the third seed in the Western Conference.

The Blazers blew an 18-point lead, but were saved by their “Big Three.”

CJ McCollum was dynamite, scoring 34 points; he was virtually unstoppable in the final quarter.

Damian Lillard finished with 24 points , including a crucial late three.

And Jusuf Nurkic added 17 points (8-of-13 shooting), 12 rebounds and two blocks.

Let’s take a look at how it went down.

Blazers First Half

The Blazers opened up a 7-0 run on the Thunder to start the game. OKC’s first two points didn’t come until 9:39 left in the first quarter — and that was on two free throws.

And then it got better!

The Blazers defense was great in the first quarter, leading to some cold, cold Thunder shooting. And the Blazers opened up a 27-12 lead.

Kept getting better …

The stats, as you might expect, were all red, black, white and silver.

Unfortunately, it didn’t stay that way.

The Thunder’s offense got on track, helped by Raymond Felton, who scored nine points in the second quarter.

Then it got a little worse for Portland.

Here’s how it looked at the half:

Blazers Second Half

The third quarter started off with some ugly basketball, with lots of missed shots, fouls and wild passing.

And the Blazers got super cold from three.

There was some good news, though.

Things also got testy in the third quarter.

https://twitter.com/BleacherReport/status/978070260896149505

Here was the outcome of all that ruckus.

After an intense and ugly third quarter of basketball, the Blazers were still in the lead, 82-80, heading into the final quarter.

NBC Sports Northwest’s Jason Quick sums it up:

McCollum really turned it on in the fourth quarter.

It was a playoff-type atmosphere, as they say. Or as I just said.

And it stayed tight:

Lillard hit his first three of the game with 40.8 seconds left in the fourth quarter to give the Blazers a 105-103 lead.

And then a strange thing happened.

Carmelo Anthony happened. He would miss several ill-advised three-pointers and turn the ball over, almost single-handedly muffing it up for the Thunder. It might have been the worst few minutes of his entire basketball career.

Next: Blazers must weather the storm(s) before the storm(s)

Final Score: Blazers 108, Thunder 103.

Next up for Portland: A Tuesday match-up in New Orleans against the Pelicans.

Takeaways

No. 1!

No. 2!

And No. 3! (Because it’s worth two takeaways.)