Live from the Moda Center as the Portland Trail Blazers host the Oklahoma City Thunder! Forget game seven of the World Series, basketball is finally here! (Note to the baseball gods: I didn’t really mean that. Go Royals!)
I’ve added fifteen pounds of muscle, I’m in the best shape of my life, and I’m really going to focus on defense and getting out in transition this season. Wait...nope, sorry, that’s every basketball player ever. This lonely blogger spent the off-season eating Cheetos and watching Cheers reruns. So, thanks NBA, I desperately needed a reason to put on pants this week.
Really though, it is great to be back. It’s hard to believe it’s time for basketball again—I’m not sure I’ve emotionally recovered from Lillard’s game six winner yet, but here we are at the start of another year. It seems like just yesterday that the Moda Center was transformed into a puddle of happy adult tears in just .9 seconds.
Can the Blazers build off of last season’s magic? Will they get bitten by the dreaded regression bug? Will Nicolas Batum finally remove his restraining order and accept my letters of undying love? Follow along, after the jump!
PREGAME:
The last time the Blazers played a meaningful game—sorry, preseason, but you don’t count—they were unceremoniously dispatched by the San Antonio Spurs. Sorry, make that the NBA champion San Antonio Spurs. Losing to the best team in the league, in the second round of the playoffs, after one of the most iconic moments in franchise history? Yeah, last season turned out pretty okay.
Portland is back to build off of last year’s surprising success, and they are doing so with the most continuous roster this side of the Spurs. The only players that aren’t here to run it again are Mo Williams and Earl Watson. Taking their places are Steve Blake and Chris Kaman, which is right in line with my Anytime You Can Bring In Thirty-Something White Dudes To Bolster Your Bench You Have To theory. (Cut to Chris “Birdman” Andersen nodding vigorously.)
Jokes aside, the Blake and Kaman additions are incredibly welcome—they’ll both provide veteran stability to one of Portland’s glaring weak spots. Coach Terry Stotts should be able to rely on his bench more than he did last season, and that extra rest for the starting five could prove huge for a potential playoff run. Even better, CJ McCollum is a year removed from the foot injury that held him out of the first quarter of last season, and he’s shown flashes of putting together a solid year.
With a (hopefully) better bench and another leap forward for Damian Lillard—mark it, dudes, Lillard is cementing himself as a top fifteen player this season—there’s no reason to think the Blazers won’t be able to replicate what they did last year. Barring injury, of course, but Blazers fans are not allowed to mention the dreaded “i” word around these parts.
I’m so excited for this season, I was even going to say something nice about Meyers Leonard but he's out for tonight’s game with an illness. So that window has closed. Sorry, Meyers, there’s always next year.
Portland kicks things off against what many consider to be one of the top three teams in the Western Conference, the Oklahoma City Thunder. Unfortunately for the Thunder, they’ve already had terrible luck with injuries and the season hasn’t even started yet. Not only is Kevin Durant out for awhile with a fracture in his foot, they also lost off-season acquisition Anthony Morrow and first round draft pick Mitch McGary for 3-6 weeks apiece. Oh, and the Thunder will be without rotation staples Reggie Jackson and Jeremy Lamb tonight. I hope y’all are fans of Perry Jones III and Andre Roberson, because both will be in the starting lineup. Or, in other words, I hope y’all are fans of Russell Westbrook jacking fifty shots a game, because that’s what we’re about to witness.
Speaking of Westbrook, I'm just going to leave his outfit from tonight here. I'm glad he made it back from the moon before tonight's game started.
FIRST QUARTER:
11:42 - Russell Westbrook already has two shot attempts. Get ready for approximately nine hundred more. 2-0 Thunder.
10:32 - LaMarcus Alrdige takes his first shot attempt...and it's a pullup three in transition! Holy hell. If that shot is in his arsenal now, that changes the ceiling of this team dramatically. 5-4 Blazers.
9:24 - Guys, Westbrook ain't fooling. That was his fourth shot attempt (an and one that sends Robin Lopez to the bench with two fouls), and he has seven points here early. 11-5 Thunder.
7:58 - Serge Ibaka sees your three, Aldridge, and raises you one of his own. Durant who? 16-7 Thunder.
7:04 - Chris Kaman with his first points as a Blazer, hitting a nifty fade away off of a spin move. Hey, bench production! 18-11 Thunder.
6:26 - And Kaman backs that up with a beautiful pass out of the post to a cutting Wesley Matthews. What kind of bearded magic is this? 18-13 Thunder.
5:07 - All your shots belong to Westbrook. Every last one. My guess is he told him teammates before the game that if any of them shot, he'd force them to wear his spacesuit home. 20-16 Thunder.
3:32 - Aldridge with the casual behind the back dribble, pullup jumper from twenty feet out, and it rattles its way home. He could not have made that look more easy. 24-18 Thunder.
3:05 - Hey, it's Steve Blake! Remember him? The Blazers are going with a bench-heavy lineup, with Blake, McCollum, and Joel Freeland joining Aldridge and Batum. Stotts has so many more weapons to work with, it will be interesting to see how well he can manage a rotation. He sure hasn't had to worry about it up until this point. 26-20 Thunder.
1:43 - A missed dunk is called good because Batum tried to block it from the middle of the rim. What, that isn't a legal play? 30-25 Thunder.
0:00 - Okay, NBA, want to speed up the game? Here's an idea. When there is 0.1 left on the clock—you know, not enough time to even get a tip in—just call the quarter dead. Don't make the players that have gone to bench and are already sitting down come back on the court to finish that last 0.1. Also, you kids get off my lawn. 34-29 Thunder.
SECOND QUARTER:
11:05 - CJ McCollum with a nice little hesitation move into the lane, and he's able to spin up and in over two larger defenders. He looks like a different player. 34-33 Thunder.
10:11 - Well, look at that. The Blazers take the lead behind the strength of their bench. Okay, fine, it's really Aldridge and his fifteen points carrying them, but did you see that baby hook from Kaman? 35-34 Blazers.
8:39 - The people in this arena must not have known what was going on, because there were shrieks coming from the luxury boxes with every strike thrown from the World Series. Welp, that's over. Sorry, Royals, you'll get 'em next year. 38-37 Thunder.
7:18 - The Blake / Kaman two-man game is a real thing. And Kaman's spin moves in the post are a real thing. 39-38 Blazers.
6:04 - Robin Lopez just hit the deck to straight steal a ball from Steven Adams. Ripped it right out of his hands and kicked it, from the floor, to Wesley Matthews. That was a Steven Adams type move, and it was glorious. 40-39 Blazers.
5:13 - Loud boos here in they arena as they show the Giants winning the World Series on the jumbotron. Booing the Giants, just as god intended. Even louder boos for the refs as they call a shooting foul on a Westbrook three-point attempt. 44-42 Thunder.
4:33 - More foul calls for Westbrook, this time on a driving attempt to the hoop. He's on a 5-0 free throw run. 46-42 Thunder.
4:15 - And Aldridge responds right back, taking Serge Ibaka in the post and picking up the and one on an up and under move. Aldridge is having some kind of offensive game tonight. 46-45 Thunder.
3:20 - Lillard with his best look of the night, an open three-pointer off of a Batum-Aldridge pick and roll, and he drew back iron. He's still scoreless on the night. Even worse, he picked up his third foul on the other end on a touch foul. He's most likely done for the half, and Westbrook is up to thirteen free throws. Oof. 50-47 Thunder.
2:10 - Batum takes his turn picking up Westbrook...and immediately gets burned on a backdoor cut. That's 24 points now for Westbrook. 52-47 Thunder.
0:00 - Portland had two terrible possessions in a row, but were able to come up with a massive defensive stop on Oklahoma City's final try of the half. Batum pushed the ball up the court, and found an open Matthews under the basket for an easy layup. Unfortunately nobody decided to play defense with two seconds left, and Westbrook was able to leak out and jam it home as time expired. That was almost impressive, but instead the Thunder take a five point lead into the half. 54-49 Thunder.
THIRD QUARTER:
11:03 - With that miss by Matthews, Portland is now 2-16 from three tonight. Brutal. 56-49 Thunder.
10:34 - And now Dame misses from three, an ugly miss off the front of the rim. 56-49 Thunder.
10:22 - This crowd ain't happy. Westbrook was able to draw another foul—one that was called only after he missed his jumper—and he's given the Thunder their largest lead of the game. 58-49 Thunder.
10:08 - It only took twenty-six minutes, but Lillard is finally on the board with his first bucket of the night. His shot wasn't falling from deep, so he took it to the hole and got three the old fashioned way. 58-52 Thunder.
8:00 - Welp, four fouls now for Dame, and he's making his way back to the bench. He's having a rough opener so far, especially compared to Westbrook and his scorched-earth attack. 63-59 Thunder.
6:47 - Batum just crossed Perry Jones over so hard that Jones fell to the floor in a heap. Batum splashed the jumper in his face, and Jones might have to go back and hide in the locker room in shame for the rest of night. 65-62 Thunder.
5:02 - Kaman was doing work in the post, and then just threw the ball right to Westbrook. I guess he thought Russ needed more touches? Westbrook drove the length of the court and hit an acrobatic shot over Steve Blake. Oh, and he was fouled. That's 36 for dude now, and Kevin Durant is on the bench ghostwriting Westbrook's MVP speech. 71-65 Thunder.
4:07 - The three ball is finally start to fall! These are the Blazers I remember! 73-70 Thunder.
2:40 - Batum faked a three, watched his defender fly by, then glided to the rim for an easy layup over Kendrick Perkins. Hashtag Scottie Pippen. Portland has the lead. 75-73 Blazers.
0:00 - Russ went out to end the quarter and the Thunder regained the lead? Yep, and you can thank back to back turnovers from McCollum for that. I'm scared to see what Westbrook will do in the fourth. 77-75 Thunder.
FOURTH QUARTER:
10:37 - Lillard's problem was that he was too close to the three-point line. Of course. A good three-feet behind the line? Nothing but net, and OKC needs time. 81-77 Blazers.
10:01 - I mean, it went in, but when you're relying on twelve-foot hook shots from Chris Kaman to beat the shot clock you know your offense isn't firing on all cylinders. And still Westbrook sits. 83-77 Blazers.
8:40 - I'm sure it has nothing to do with the new court, but a lot of people sure are slipping and falling down this game. Everyone is out here looking like me trying to play rec ball, but with more jumping ability and less of a beer belly. 85-81 Blazers.
7:00 - Dame with another three, and the Thunder need time! Headed into the break, Westbrook and Ibaka are clearly upset with each other over their defensive breakdown on that last possession. 89-81 Blazers.
5:19 - What?! Batum picked off a lazy pass to Westbrook, saved the ball from going out of bounds with a sweet behind the back dribble, then threw up an oop to a streaking Aldridge. There's your first highlight of the season—you'll be seeing that one on repeat for the rest of the year. The Thunder need time. Again. 93-83 Blazers.
3:45 - Russ wanted that pullup three. Instead he opted to dribble for six seconds, then hoist a contested triple instead. We've reached peak Russ. 95-85 Blazers.
3:02 - Back to back threes for Matthews! The wheels are off for OKC. 101-85 Blazers.
2:40 - Coach Scott Brooks pulled Westbrook from the game, and Westbrook let him know how he felt by taking the slowest approach to the bench ever. The only thing missing from that sad walk was some Charlie Brown music. 101-85 Blazers.
2:02 - And Portland empties their bench. McCollum, President Will Barton, Allen Crabbe, Thomas Robinson, and Joel Freeland will close this one out. 101-85 Blazers.
FINAL: 106-89 Blazers. Well that was a fun way to start the season, the first step toward 82-0. Westbrook flew too close to the sun, and OKC just flat ran out of gas. Portland is going to be a tough out at home this season. Up next is a short trip to Sacramento, and then we'll be back at it on Sunday against Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors.
