Oklahoma City Thunder win thriller against Portland Trail Blazers despite LaMarcus Aldridge heroics – NBA Recap
The Oklahoma City Thunder pulled off a memorable victory over the Portland Trail Blazers 111 – 107 in overtime. The cliff-hanger of a game was swayed back and forth throughout and Portland were unlucky to end up losing, especially after the mammoth effort
put in by LaMarcus Aldridge.
The Trail Blazers star was phenomenal on the night and troubled Oklahoma City throughout, ending up with a game high 39 points. Aldridge was helped along with some good supporting performances by other Portland players.
These included Wesley Matthews, Jamal Crawford and Nicolas Batum who scored 18, 17 and 13 points respectively. Centre Marcus Camby also made a mark with 15 rebounds and 8 points.
For Oklahoma City Thunder it was the familiar star duo of Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook that led them to victory. Durant scored a team high 33 points, grabbed 7 boards and dished out 5 assists. Russell Westbrook was terrific as well, scoring 28 points,
grabbing 11 boards and handing out 8 assists.
James Harden meanwhile came off the bench to score 19 points while Serge Ibaka was impressive with a double-double, 12 points and 13 rebounds.
The game was off to a competitive start at the Rose Garden and the home team held a slight advantage in the first quarter as they surged for an 8 – 2 that gave them a 31 – 23 lead. Oklahoma City though finished with a flurry, ensuring they go into the second
period behind by just 2 points, the score 31 – 29.
The second period was close and with just 3:42 left in the break, the score was 50 – 50. The Thunder then used a 10 – 2 spurt to end the half ahead by 60 – 52.
Portland came out of the interval determined to get back into the game, but it wasn’t as easy as they might have hoped for. Although the Trail Blazers were potent in their attacks, Oklahoma City were often able to strike back and thus remained ahead, by
6 points, when the 3rd segment finished at 85 – 79.
Portland though were not to be denied and opened the final quarter with a 9 – 4 spurt that brought them to within one point of the Thunder, 89 – 88. A 13 – 2 spring by the Trail Blazers then turned the game on its head and put them up 101 – 95 with just
2:18 left on the clock.
Oklahoma City though refused to go away and fought back valiantly, Durant making a superb layup right at the death to level the scores and send the game into overtime.
The Thunder had too much in the tank for Portland afterwards and were able to close the game out in overtime, the final score 111 – 107.
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