LaMarcus Aldridge stars as Portland Trail Blazers down Oklahoma City Thunder 103-93: NBA Recap
After a close loss at the hands of Los Angeles Clippers last Sunday, the Portland Trail Blazers came back strongly tonight and collected their fourth win of the shortened season by downing the mighty Oklahoma City Thunder 103-93.
And once again it was completely a team effort for the Trail Blazers.
Forward LaMarcus Aldridge led from the front and pounded a game high 30 points including 10-19 from the floor and grabbed 8 rebounds. Wesley Matthews added 16 while Gerald Wallace completed a double-double by finishing with 13
points and 10 boards. Raymond Felton and Nicolas Batum, who came off the bench late both bundled 12 apiece.
Thunder were strong at the start and dominated the first half, however in the second, the Trail Blazers pulled it back quite magnificently by strengthening their defence, holding Thunder to just 34 percent shooting.
By the end, Blazers had outclassed Thunder in all the departments, be it shooting from the floor (44.7%-43.4%), from downtown (40%-25%), from the line (80.6%-76.2%) and rebounds (46-40).
James Harden led the Thunder with 23 points while Russell Westbrook had 22 points, 6 rebounds and 8 assists. Western Conference player of the week, Kevin Durant was not at his very best tonight and finished with 19 points including
an erratic 8 for 26 from the floor. He shot just 3 of his first 11 shots and never managed to improve the shooting until the end.
After finishing the first frame with a 5 point lead 26-21, Thunder pushed the momentum into the second and although did not completely dominate the frame, but managed to stay ahead throughout.
Serge Ibaka drilled a mid range jumper with a minute remaining in the half to take OKC ahead 53-47, however Aldridge intervened and scored 4 quick points to ensure Blazers enter the second half with just a two points deficit 53-51.
The Trail Blazers reeled off a 10-6 burst in the opening minutes of the third frame to get ahead for the first instance in the game. The next few minutes saw intense battle as neither team allowed the opponent to dominate and lead
kept on shifting hands. The scores were tied at 63 when the Trail Blazers rattled a game changing 9-3 run to make it 72-66. This run turned the momentum completely and Portland never looked back.
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