Thunder vs Trail Blazers preview and gamethread: OKC looks to make it 2 in a row over Portland

Game: Oklahoma City Thunder vs Portland Trail Blazers

Time: 7PM CST

Location: Chesapeake Arena, OKC

Broadcast: NBATV

Counterpart: Blazers Edge

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The Thunder welcome the Trail Blazers to the ‘Peake tonight to play the second game in their regular season series. In their first game, the Thunder came out with a big 2-point win, ending years of futility in Portland’s home arena.

Due to OKC’s recent slide in the standings following a number of slip-ups to lottery teams, the two teams are virtually tied in the standings now. Whoever comes out on top tonight will claim the #3 spot in the West, behind the surging Warriors and the stalwart Nuggets. But while OKC has indeed struggled, their big win in Philadelphia this past weekend points toward a team that knows how to focus against the better teams in the league, and they will need that tonight as Portland looks to even the regular season series.

Three things stood out to me in the Thunder’s earlier season win:

1. Portland’s (very) big man Jusuf Nurkic was dominating the paint during much of the first half, primarily because OKC’s pick and roll defense was giving the passer way too much space to make easy passes on the roll, giving him deep post position against Steven Adams & Co. While the Thunder cleaned that up just enough in the second half, the PnR defense has been largely suspect over the past 3 weeks (Philly’s base offense doesn’t rely on PnR sets as much as many other teams), and so once again their defensive sore point will be on display.
2. The Thunder did a great job defending against Portland’s back court of Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum, limiting them to shooting a collective 32% from the floor and 3-14 from 3-point range. No matter what Nurkic does on the inside, this focus should remain if OKC wants to have success again tonight.
3. The Thunder bench actually had some reasonable success in leading the Thunder back into this game. While Dennis Schroder struggled with his shot, it was the combination of Nerlens Noel and Patrick Patterson on both ends that helped tip the scales. Noel in particular was a key element to defending the Portland shooters.

The Thunder earned some rest by controlling the Knicks yesterday, while the Blazers had to battle the Jazz until the very end. Let’s see if OKC’s success yesterday pays off tonight.