Trail Blazers at Thunder
THE STORY: The Oklahoma City Thunder held out long enough to
be the last unbeaten team in the NBA. Then they went ahead and took one
night off. Playing for the sixth time in nine days, the Thunder finally
looked like the schedule was catching up with them in a 100-87 loss at
the Dallas Mavericks on Monday. The NBA smartly stacked the early
schedule with its marquee teams, meaning Oklahoma City will be playing
for the seventh time in 10 days and enduring its third back-to-back set
when it hosts the Portland Trail Blazers on Tuesday. The Blazers
averaged 106.3 points in winning their first three games but slumped in a
93-88 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday.
TV: 8 p.m. ET, CS Northwest (Portland), FS Oklahoma (Oklahoma City)
ABOUT THE TRAIL BLAZERS (3-1):
Portland turned the ball over 21 times against the Clippers, a
statistic coach Nate McMillan blamed for the team’s lack of a transition
game. The Blazers have been running a lot more this season with new
point guard Raymond Felton pushing the pace alongside free agent gunner
Jamal Crawford. Those two were the main culprit’s of Sunday’s sloppy
play, combining for 11 turnovers. Gerald Wallace, who entered the
contest averaging just under 20 points, was held scoreless in the loss.
ABOUT THE THUNDER (5-1):
Oklahoma City failed to score at least 97 points for the first time on
Monday as several players struggled from the field. Kevin Durant turned
in 27 points on 10-of-21 shooting but it was a largely empty total, with
only two rebounds, no assists and three turnovers filling out the stat
line. The Thunder are undoubtedly one of the best teams in the NBA and
they will finally get a break this week, getting Wednesday and Thursday
off at home before hosting Houston on Friday. Then its back to the
grind, with a stretch of three games in as many days.
BUZZER BEATERS:
1. Oklahoma City took three of the four meetings last season.
2. Durant’s 23.3 points scoring average against Portland is his third-lowest mark against any team.
3. Felton (3.8) and Oklahoma City point guard Russell Westbrook (4.8) both rank among the league leaders in turnovers.