NBA: McCollum towers above the disappointing Big-Three of the Thunder

In the direct duel for third place in the Western Conference the Oklahoma City Thunder (44-31) had to take a bitter disappointment against the Portland Trail Blazers (45-28). The 105:108 defeat meant the fourth bankruptcy of the current season against their opponent from Portland.

The Thunder offensive got off to a flying start. In the first ten minutes of the game, the hosts did not hit a jump shot and only found limited success under the blazers’ basket. Portland let the ball run excellently, played so again and again a shooter free and Damian Lillard ripped large gaps on the way to the basket into the Oklahoma Defense. OKC could not recover from the early 2:14 run and went into the second quarter – 34:17 Portland with a clear gap.

The Thunder’s sluggish offensive was then revived by their bank. Jerami Grant and Raymond Felton scored 17 of the first 19 OKC points in the quarter and reduced the Blazers lead to six points. The starters were infected by this energy and Steven Adams completed a 16:0 run by basketball, which brought the Thunder the lead for the first time. C. J. McCollum, however, countered with strong individual actions and led his team into the half-time break with a 57:52 lead.

In the second half, a fiery, defensive exchange of blows developed, which then overcooked for a short time when Ed Davis and Terrance Ferguson fought a fight, into which Russell Westbrook and Evan Turner also interfered. All participants were punished with a technical foul. Maurice Harkless’s buzzer beater then secured the Blazers an 82:80 lead ahead of the final quarter.

OKC went aggressively into the fourth quarter and crossed the team foul mark after just under six minutes played. The Thunder picked up 9 grateful points on the line while Portland had to work hard for every throw. The Thunder-Offense cooled off and Lillard brought Portland into the lead with his first three of the night. Westbrook equalized the game in the following action with 36 seconds to play.

The decisive scene, however, belonged to McCollum, who set the cherry on his outstanding performance in the final quarter with his jumper. He scored 14 of his 34 points (14/24 FG) in the last twelve minutes of the game and thus carried the stumbling Blazers offensive to the finish line. Carmelo Anthony missed his first chance to equalise with an unnecessary loss and after Westbrook took his sixth foul, Anthony destroyed his hopes for an extra time with a long-range shot – 108:105 Portand.

Besides McCollum, the Bosnian big man Jusuf Nurkic, who scored 17 points (8/13) and 12 rebounds, was particularly convincing. Lillard remained relaitv cold from the field (24 points, 6/19 FG), but was extremely productive from the free-throw line (11/11 FW).

On the Thunder side, Anthony (6 points, 3/13 FG) and Paul George (16 points, 4/15 FG) were particularly disappointing with weak throwing odds. Westbrook fought their way into the game after another weak start and finally missed another triple-double with 23 points (9/20 FG), 9 assists and 8 rebounds. With 18 points (8/14 FG) Steven Adams was second best scorer of the Thunder, Grant scored

Oklahoma City Thunder (44-31) vs. Portland Trail Blazers (45-28) 105:108 (BOXSCORE)

C. J. McCollum. Lillard’s congenial backcourt partner overtook his attacking stumbling team during the entire second half and saved his team with numerous individual actions.

Carmelo Anthony. Apart from a solid performance on the boards, Anthony made a very weak game. With four misses in the final phase and a momentous loss in the final seconds of the game, he was anything but clutch.

Despite very strong bank contributions from Grant and Felton, Billy Donovan decided to return to his nominal starting lineup in the final phase, making one clear mistake in retrospect. Grant was both defensively and offensively better alongside Adams than Anthony and Corey Brewer could not set any accents either.