The Portland Trail Blazers pulled off their most bizarre win of the season Tuesday night at Oklahoma City, 115-104.
Yes, the team’s 123-122 win at Chicago on Jan. 30 when Damian Lillard made two threes in the final seconds remains the team’s most dramatic win of the season.
But what happened Tuesday was downright surreal.
Portland dominated the depleted Thunder (11-16) for most of the game and built a 24-point lead in the third quarter, only to watch Oklahoma City slowly chip away before taking a 102-97 lead with 4:48 remaining.
“I thought Oklahoma City got back into the game with hard work,” Portland coach Terry Stotts said. “They got some offensive rebounds, some loose balls. We weren’t alert in transition and they got a lot of those energy baskets that got them back into the game. Once they got back into the game, they were feeling pretty confident, they made three out of four threes. And that’s where the momentum of the game switched for them.”
To that point, the Blazers had been outscored 23-4 in the final quarter and Damian Lillard was having one of his worst shooting nights of the season from three, sitting at 1 of 10.
Before the Thunder made their run, Lillard said he had thought to himself that the Blazers appeared to be in control and would need a nice little run to put the game on ice.
Instead, with 4:48 remaining, Lillard said he looked up at the scoreboard and decided that he was going to have to impose his will on the final minutes.
“And if it doesn’t work out, I’m going to be the deciding factor in it,” Lillard said.
Oh, it worked out. And then some.
Within about 90 seconds, Lillard hit a three, then found Gary Trent Jr. open for a three, and then hit another three, this time of the step-back variety. That 9-0 burst allowed the Blazers to reclaim the lead at 106-102 with 3:15 remaining.
But Lillard wasn’t done. He hit another in-your-face, step-back, 28-foot three, then got an assist on a pass to Robert Covington, who hit a three. Then Lillard went out even further to hit a 30-foot three that made the score 115-104 with 51.8 seconds left.
All told, Lillard made 4 of 4 threes and had assists on two other threes to ignite and end an 18-2 run to close the game. And he did all of that with a sore knee, which came about after he banged knees with a Thunder player late in the third quarter.
Lillard said the contact made his leg feel “dead,” but he wasn’t seriously injured. He hadn’t even asked to come out of the game, but Stotts pulled him anyway because the trainers wanted to check him out. Lillard said he always planned to return and did.
“It’s just sore,” he said when asked how his knee felt after the game.
Stotts, clearly impressed by Lillard’s late-game performance, said he was also proud of how the team played on defense in the final few minutes.
“We were able to tighten things down defensively and then make some big shots,” Stotts said.
WHAT IT MEANS
Portland (17-10) won its fifth consecutive game, the Blazers’ longest winning streak of the season, and in the process moved into a tie with Phoenix (17-10) for fourth place in the Western Conference. The Suns lost 128-124 to Brooklyn (17-13) on Tuesday night.
SHOWED UP AND SHOWED OUT
Lillard made 12 of 25 shots for 31 points to go along with 10 assists and seven rebounds.
Center Enes Kanter made just 2 of 10 shots to score eight points, but he had 21 rebounds, seven at the offensive end.
Oklahoma City Thunder center Al Horford, rear, gets his hand on the ball as Portland Trail Blazers center Enes Kanter (11) shoots in the second half of an NBA basketball game Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2021, in Oklahoma City. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)AP
“Every time I’m out there I always tell my teammates to shoot the ball with confidence and if you miss, I’m going to go get it,” Kanter said.
Trent continued to play well, making 8 of 16 shots and 3 of 8 threes for 19 points. He also had four assists.
Anfernee Simons came off the bench to score 15 points before fouling out in the fourth quarter. He made 5 of 8 threes.
SHOWED UP AND FIZZLED
Carmelo Anthony had an off night, making just 4 of 14 shots and 1 of 4 threes to finish with 10 points.
NASSIR LITTLE
Stotts, for the second consecutive game, went to forward Nassir Little early in the game and the move paid off. Little played five of his 17 minutes in the first quarter and scored five points. He played another six minutes in the second quarter and added five more points. On the night, he made 5 of 5 shots and 3 of 3 threes.
It was his best outing since Little scored 30 points during the team’s 134-106 loss at Milwaukee on Feb. 1. In four appearances this month, Little, a first-round pick in 2019, has made 9 of 12 threes.
“There hasn’t been a guy that’s taken more shots in the gym than Naz,” Stotts said. “I think it’s a testament to his hard work. He came in as a rookie not known as a shooter and he knew that was something he needed to work on. And he obviously has.”
NEXT UP (Blazers schedule)
The Blazers will conclude their three-game trip Wednesday at New Orleans before returning home to host Washington on Saturday.
— Aaron Fentress | afentress@Oregonian.com | @AaronJFentress (Twitter), @AaronJFentress (Instagram), @AaronFentress (Facebook).
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