NBA Update: Portland Trail Blazers fell short of single point against Oklahoma City Thunder (Recap)
The Portland Trail Blazers were one on one with their long-time rivals, the Oklahoma City Thunder at Rose Garden, Portland. Thunder uprooted Portland with one point lead 107 – 106. A collection of 20,611 fans enjoyed the match. It is a great come back of
Thunder, as they lost their last game against Clippers at Staples Center, Los Angeles.
Prominent players for Thunder
Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook both had 28 points and 11 rebounds for Oklahoma City. Jeff Green scored 19 points. Serge Ibaka also contributed 11 points.
Prominent Players for Trail Blazers
Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook lead Thunder over Blazers. Durant and Westbrook both had 28 points and 11 rebounds each for Thunder. LaMarcus Aldridge assists Trail Blazers with 22 points, while Brandon Roy had 19 points. Andre Miller and Batum added
16 points each.
First Quarter
Thunder took the lead in the first session with a strong hold on Trail Blazers, 29 – 23. Durant (8 PTS) and Westbrook (10 PTS) played well for Thunder and kept on dominating the basketball court and played a very vital role in the initial lead of their team.
LaMarcus Nurae Aldridge tried hard at Blazers end and added 12 points in the starting session. Rest of the players were not that much impressive as they fell under 5 points.
Second Quarter
The efforts of Blazers remained fruitful in the second half when they made a great come back in the game and added 35 points to the previous session’s score. Almost all players of Blazers were active around the court and kept on adding baskets. Batum played
versatile and added 11 points.
The Thunder slowed down their accelerator in the second session and provided Blazers with a chance to take the lead. Only 22 points were added by Thunders in the second half. The man of first session, Durant added 7 more points in the second part. Green
scored 5 and Krstic added 4 points.
Third Quarter
The Blazer headed the Thunder even in the third session and they added 23 points to the scoreboard. Miller grabbed 9 points for his team.
The Thunder left behind by 6 points at the end of third session. Thunder added 24 points to the final score of the third round. Green was the player who played better and added 6 points.
Fourth Quarter
The fourth session was very interesting as the score was equal by 100 – 100. The fire back of Thunder was awesome as they added 25 points in the fourth session against the 19 points of Blazers. It was decide to extend they game to an over time.
Overtime
The 7 points of Thunder in the overtime were the contribution of Harden (3 PTS), Durant (2 PTS) and Westbrook (2 PTS).
Although the Blazers tried, their level best but they fell short of only one point as they could hardly added 6 points in the overtime. Johnson added 3 points and Roy scored 2 points. Mathew scored only a single.
Turning Point of the Game
Portland led 70-58 with seven minutes left in the third quarter but shot only 2 for 12 the rest of the period. The Thunder went into the fourth quarter down only 81-75 and gradually clawed their way back.
Exceptional play of the Day
Oklahoma City switched Kevin Durant onto Brandon Roy in the second half, and Roy made only 2 of 10 shots in the final two quarters and overtime.
Quotable
Portland Trail Blazers coach Nate McMillan said, "We beat ourselves tonight. The game came down to rebounding, getting stops, and having execution on offense. They dominated the boards, we had too many defensive breakdowns, and we settled for a lot of
jump shots."
Up Next
Blazers will play its next match against Raptors on Saturday, November 6, 2010 at Rose Garden, Portland.
Oklahoma City will take on Boston Celtics on Sunday, November 7, 2010 at Oklahoma City Arena, Oklahoma City.
Tags: