PORTLAND – Regardless of which five men are on the floor, the Thunder comes into each game expecting to give itself a chance to win if it executes its game plan. Minus four starters Wednesday night against the Portland Trail Blazers was the perfect example of that attitude.
Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, Serge Ibaka and Andre Roberson rested in the Thunder’s narrow 120-115 loss to the Blazers, but despite falling behind by as many as 23 points, Head Coach Billy Donovan’s club never relented. The team, which fielded a starting lineup of Randy Foye, Dion Waiters, Anthony Morrow, Enes Kanter and Steven Adams, walked into the building with resolve and determination. Both the depth of talent and the mentality to be able to hang with a playoff team down two All-Stars and two starters are qualities that only elite teams share.
“It shows character. Guys really wanted to come in, play hard and step up and not make any excuses,” Morrow said. “At the end we kind of just ran out of gas.”
“I’m not a huge believer in moral victories, but that’s a great team over there and we have a lot of guys who played tonight who aren’t necessarily the stars of this team,” reserve forward Josh Huestis added. “We competed and we were in it for 48 minutes. We could have laid down when we got down but we fought back and it speaks volumes to how good we can be.”
The Thunder allowed 72 points in the first half, turning the ball over nine times leading to 12 points and giving up 10 made three-pointers on 18 attempts. In the second half, the Thunder’s defense tightened, allowing just 48 points on 42.9 percent shooting and a 5-for-15 mark from the three-point line.
In fact, Donovan’s group outscored the Blazers by eight over the final 24 minutes, but its comeback push was just too little, too late. Down 113-96 with 6:26, the Thunder wasn’t discouraged. Instead, it went on an 8-1 run behind back-to-back Josh Huestis three-pointers and a Dion Waiters driving layup to pull within 10 at 114-104 with 4:44 to go.
The teams traded baskets for the next few possessions, and the Thunder could have used a few extra stops, but eventually it cracked into single digits with two Foye free throws to make it 118-110 Portland with 2:01 to go. The Thunder forced the Blazers into four straight missed shots after that, but unfortunately it came up empty on three straight possessions – a missed three and two turnovers. At that point the clock had ticked won below 30 seconds, and two late baskets weren’t quite enough.
“Overall it was pretty good and pretty positive,” Donovan reflected. “These guys are NBA players and they have confidence and belief in themselves and as a group collectively. They should go out there and we expected to go out there and really compete and play well and give ourselves a chance to win. I want those guys to think that.”
Thunder Highlights:
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'Stache Brothers Give Impact Performances
For the first time in Thunder team history, a player posted a 30-point, 20-rebound game, and that man was Enes Kanter. The only other players to complete that feat this season were Anthony Davis, DeMarcus Cousins, Dwight Howard and Andre Drummond - all past or present All-Stars, by the way.
The fifth-year center posted 33 points on 13-for-18 shooting, including a make on his only three-point attempt. On the glass, he added 20 rebounds, a whopping nine of them coming on the offensive end as the Thunder racked up 16 second chance points. In his 36 minutes of play, Kanter was, for long stretches, the best player on the floor.
“Enes gave us a scoring punch where we could throw the ball inside,” Donovan said. “We felt like with them being small if we could play with both bigs, we could get some post feeds for him. He scored in a variety of ways. He was really aggressive and Enes gave great effort on both ends of the floor.”
The stat sheet will show that Kanter had an unbelievable night, but there was something for the Thunder to learn about Steven Adams in this game as well.
Last week when the Thunder sat Durant and Ibaka, one of the number one takeaways was that Adams was able to guard Tobias Harris for the entire fourth quarter, and do it at a high level. Tonight, he faced the task of guarding Al-Farouq Aminu.
Although his man got loose from the three-point line and scored well, this was important experience for Adams and an interesting case study for the Thunder coaching staff to look at when assessing how its “twin towers” lineup might look in the future.
“We had a chance to see a lot of different lineups out there and we had a chance to play guys in some different positions,” Donovan said.
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By the Numbers
5 – Players who scored in double figures on the night for the Thunder, including Dion Waiters’ 25 points and Anthony Morrow’s 19 points in starting roles
23 – Double-doubles off the bench for Enes Kanter this season, the third most for any player in the past 30 years
56-48 – The Thunder’s scoring edge in the second half, where it held Portland to 42.9 percent shooting and just 5-for-15 from the three-point line - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
The Last Word
“This group, the whole team, they’re a battling group, they compete and give you great effort all the time.” – Head Coach Billy Donovan