Takeaways from the Portland Trail Blazers Game 1 Victory Over the Oklahoma City Thunder
By Jakob Ashlin
The Three-point Advantage
Heading into the series, the Blazers were clearly a better three-point shooting team than the Thunder. The Blazers were 8th in the NBA in three-point percentage during the regular season, while the Thunder were only 22nd.
Unsurprisingly, this was a huge factor in game one. The Thunder made a measly 5 threes on 33 attempts. The Blazers got off to a hot start burying 7 out of 10 threes in the first quarter, but they eventually cooled off finishing the game 11-25 from deep.
While the end result was great for the Blazers, they will need to find some consistency on the perimeter moving forward. In the second half, they deviated from the ball movement that led to their first quarter success. Nevertheless, they were far ahead of Oklahoma City, and Lillard and McCollum led the way making 8 out of the team’s 11 threes. Seth Curry added his usual efficiency going 2-3 from deep.
As for the Thunder, the aforementioned George was once again the key for them. The Thunder are already a poor shooting team, and without George hitting perimeter shots, the offense was lost. In fact, outside of George, only Terrance Ferguson made a three.
The Blazers will happily let Dennis Schroder and Russell Westbrook shoot open jumpers for the remainder of the series.
Next. Gaining the 3 Seed Gives the Portland Trail Blazers an Easier Path to the Western Conference Finals. dark
Three-point shooting is immensely important in today’s league, and the Blazers have a clear advantage over their opponents.