Thunder Hits Portland--Up Next Toronto

Thursday night the Oklahoma City Thunder rolled into town to take on the Blazers. This was the first home game after the Blazers successful 3-1 road trip and with OKC being a conference rival it was an important game to say the least.

Starting 5:
LaMarcus Aldridge
Marcus Camby
Nicolas Batum
Andre Miller
Brandon Roy

LaMarcus Aldridge once again was the player of the game. The beard man scored 22 points, 4 rebounds and 1 assist. He shot 11-19 from the field. LaMarcus has been one of the most consistent guys on the team! Night after night he is getting the job done and in the first few minutes of the game, he was the only Blazer who scored any points at all. The only thing that I'm not too happy about was that LMA shot 0-0 from the line. I was actually shocked looking at that stat. The L-Train has been doing a much better job at getting to the line but just couldn't get there on Thursday. Brandon Roy had a nice game with 19 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists. He shot 6-17 from the field and a perfect 6-6 from the line. I have to say though, this game really belonged to Nicolas Batum. Nico has been struggling to keep a rhythm so far but Thursday that rhythm finally came back. He scored 16 points alonf with 5 rebounds and 2 assists. Batum was all over the place that night working hard on both the offensive and defensive ends. Nico guarded Kevin Durant for most of the night and though KD was able to score 28 points, he was only 2-5 from beyond the arch, showing that Nicolas made Kevin go to the hoop and work for those points. It was good to see Batum really get back into the swing of things and I hope he's able to take that game and only build on it Saturday.

Box Score:

Oklahoma City won the game 107-106 in OT.

This game was won at the free throw line. Oklahoma City shot 24-26 from the line (92%) and Portland shot 16-20 (80%) with some players (cough, LMA, cough) not making it to the free throw line at all. When a game is won or lost by such a small number I always look at the free throw percentage. In a close game, free throws are HUGE. Next, I look at rebounds. Extra possessions can make or break a game. OKC out-rebounded POR by 9 (47 rebounds to our 38). The Thunder out-rebounded us on the defensive end with 32 to our 23. Those extra possessions allowed Oklahoma to break the Blazers 12 point lead and eventually take the win in OT.

Photo(s) of the Night:

The team officially announced the dedication of this season to Maurice Lucas Thursday night with Lucas' family in attendance.

Homeless Sonics mascot. 

The Blazers next take on the Toronto Raptors at the Rose Garden Saturday night.

• The Trail Blazers have won four straight games in the series, tying for Portland’s longest win streak over Toronto (2002-03). 

• Portland has swept Toronto, 2-0, each of the past two seasons. The Trail Blazers have also won the last three matchups at the 

Rose Garden with the last loss coming Dec. 22, 2006 (101-100 OT). 

• Toronto’s top two scorers (Chris Bosh, 28.0, and Hedo Turkoglu, 19.0) from last year’s season series against Portland are no longer 

with the Raptors. Andrea Bargnani (13.0) averaged the most points against Portland last season among Toronto’s returning players. 

• Four Trail Blazers averaged at least 15 points vs. the Raptors last season. Brandon Roy led the way with a 20.0 scoring average 

while LaMarcus Aldridge, Nicolas Batum and Andre Miller each averaged 15.5 points per game. 

• Toronto’s Andrea Bargnani and Portland’s LaMarcus Aldridge were selected fi rst and second overall in the 2006 NBA Draft. 

• Brandon Roy logged his fi rst career double-double on Dec. 22, 2006, against the Raptors, with 16 points and 10 rebounds to go 

along with eight assists. 

• Portland shot 51.4 percent (18-35) from 3-point range against Toronto last season. Rudy Fernandez and Nicolas Batum each 

hit six total shots from downtown in two games against the Raptors last year. 

• Portland committed only 18 turnovers against the Raptors in two meetings last season while forcing Toronto into 27 turnovers. 

• With a 105.0 scoring average against Toronto last season, Portland’s average margin of victory over the Raptors was 12.5 points 

in two games last season. 

• Toronto’s last two victories over Portland have both come in overtime. The last time Toronto won a game in regulation against the 

Trail Blazers was Feb. 12, 2006, in Toronto. 

• Marcus Camby was drafted second overall by the Toronto Raptors in 1996. Camby played 126 games in two seasons for Toronto 

while blocking a total of 360 shots. 

• Rudy Fernandez plays on the Spanish National Team with Toronto guard Jose Calderon. Calderon matched the record for assists 

by a Raptor against the Trail Blazers with 13 on Dec. 7, 2008. 

• Toronto guard Jarrett Jack posted 9.5 points, 2.5 rebounds and 4.0 assists in three seasons with the Trail Blazers from 2005-08. 

ALSO: The Portland Trail Blazers have announced that they signed C Sean Marks today to replace Fabricio Oberto who retired Thursday due to a pre-diagnosed heart condition.


Sources: Yahoo Sports Media Notes