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Best of the Season, Part XVIII: Blazers sweep season series from Thunder

By Matt George Moore

OKLAHOMA CITY, OK - MARCH 25: Jusuf Nurkic #27 of the Portland Trail Blazers handles the ball against the Oklahoma City Thunder on March 25, 2018 at Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2018 NBAE (Photo by Layne Murdoch/NBAE via Getty Images)
OKLAHOMA CITY, OK - MARCH 25: Jusuf Nurkic #27 of the Portland Trail Blazers handles the ball against the Oklahoma City Thunder on March 25, 2018 at Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2018 NBAE (Photo by Layne Murdoch/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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The Blazers had 10 games left to play in the season when they traveled to Oklahoma City to take on the Thunder one last time.

Oh, it felt so very good to sweep the Oklahoma City Thunder, didn’t it, Rip City? The Blazers had never done that before — although they did sweep the then-Seattle Supersonics in 2002-2003.

Beating OKC is always a thrill; they’re Portland’s Northwest Division rival — plus they stole the Supersonics away from Seattle, leaving the Trail Blazers without a Pacific Northwest rival. (OK, they didn’t steal them — but why quibble over details when discussing the Thunder?)

For the season series, Portland won at home on Nov. 5; they won at OKC on Jan. 9; and they won again at home on March 3 — also one of the best wins of the season.

Game No. 4 of the season series was set for March 25 at Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City. And both teams at this point were in the thick of the hunt for Western Conference playoff positioning. Portland entered the game at 44-28; OKC was not far behind at 44-30.

Blazers

Portland’s victory continued a successful stretch of games against Oklahoma City. The win not only secured the season sweep, it was the Blazers’ sixth straight win versus the Thunder. And it was their 12th win in the last 16 contests against OKC.

There were a lot of superlatives in this one, but a few players stood out.

C.J. McCollum scored a game high 34 points, including 14 points in the fourth quarter.

Jusuf Nurkic had 17 points on 8/13 shooting to go along with 12 boards, two steals and two blocks.

And Maurice Harkless was super, scoring 16 points on 7/11 shooting. He also had six rebounds, four assists and four blocks.

Damian Lillard added 24 points, seven rebounds, five assists and three steals. He had a rough shooting night, though, going 6/19 from the field, including an awful 1/7 from three.

There wasn’t much bench help in this one as there had been in previous games. In fact, nobody on the Blazers bench scored more than two points.

Thunder

The Thunder were as usual led by Russell Westbrook, who scored 23 points and added nine assists, eight rebounds and four steals.

Paul George had 16 points but shot the ball poorly (4/15 field goals).

Steven Adams added 18 points and 10 rebounds, while Jerami Grant came off the bench to score 17 points. (Grant is likely a player to watch this summer as Portland gathers together its free agent possibilities.)

But let’s talk about Carmelo Anthony for a second.

More from Blazers News

Holy Moly, Melo!

With under four minutes remaining in the game and the Thunder up 101-98, Anthony missed a three-point shot. But he snared his own rebound — after which he proceeded to miss another three-point shot.

Then — after a little back and forth — he somehow got worse.

As we wrote at the time:

"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."

Anthony would finish with just six points on 3/13 shooting, including 0/5 from three.

With that, the Blazers held on for the win, 108-105.

Next: Which free agents should the Trail Blazers target?

It was their first-ever sweep of OKC.

And one of the best wins of the season.