The Portland Trail Blazers split back-to-back games with an overtime win against the Houston Rockets, 137-131. Behind a buzzer beater from Jerami Grant to deliver them extra minutes, Portland puts to bed a nightmare loss against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
The Blazers split the back-to-back against the Thunder and Rockets and are 3-2 in their last five. Portland currently sits at 13-31, 14th in the Western Conference. The Thunder were lifted to the top spot, 31-13, in the conference while the Rockets stay stuck just outside the play-in at 20-23.
Portland continue a return to their early season form, staying in games late, win-or-lose. They continue without Shaedon Sharpe (abdomen) and Moses Brown (wrist) for the past two weeks.
How It Happened: The Oklahoma Screw Job
The Blazers came into Oklahoma with a bone to pick. Their past performance at Paycom Center left them with a 62-point bruising, tied for the fifth-worst loss in NBA history. Before that, the Thunder dismantled the Blazers in Portland to the tune of a 30-point loss on scorching three-point shooting.
So the game in Oklahoma was all about one thing: pride.
First Half
Portland still nearly let it escape from them early, as Oklahoma City jumped out to a 20-8 lead. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander established his squad in the paint early, captaining the Thunder offense for eight early points. Billups quickly pivoted to his bench, substituting in Scoot Henderson, Toumani Camara and Duop Reath.
Despite five turnovers for the quarter, the Blazers held on with eight points from Malcolm Brogdon and a 7-15 mark from beyond the arc. When Jabari Walker bounced in a three with time expiring, he struck pose in praise to the Basketball Gods.
Whatever offering he made was soon answered in the second quarter. Not by any divinity, but by dogged defense from Walker, Reath and Matisse Thybulle. The Blazers turned the game on its head with an 18-8 run to take back the lead.
Henderson played played off Oklahoma’s gap coverage with made threes and vicious drives on the closeout for 12 points. By game’s end, Henderson led Portland with 19 points, seven assists and four rebounds on 7-18 shooting. The performance showcased his growing confidence on the floor.
His efforts were assisted by Walker’s activity on the glass. The second-year forward would finish the game notching his fourth double-double of the season with 14 points and 13 rebounds. By the time both subbed out for half, the Blazers had expanded their lead to six and would enter the break up, 66-58.
Second Half
The game turned into a dogfight in the third. Malcolm Brogdon found Jerami Grant cutting layup to stretch the lead to nine, but the Thunder refused to go away. The lead ebbed and flowed as Portland kept making plays to keep Oklahoma at bay. Another sweet pocket pass from Henderson to Walker created a five point cushion.
On the other side, Gilgeous-Alexander exploited all crevices of the paint. He found teammates, shots and free throws and scored another 11 in third quarter. By game’s end, he notched his sixth double-double of the season with 33 points, 10 assists and six rebounds on an uncharacteristic 10-24 shooting.
However the dam would not break until the final minute. A Thybulle three point make pushed the lead to six, but Thunder forward Isaiah Joe took it right back. The Thunder then snatched the advantage after Gilgeous-Alexander drained his and-one opportunity and Chet Holmgren found a cutting Joe for a finger roll and the 88-86 lead.
For the final frame, both teams continued to throw haymaker after haymaker. The first three quarters had only four ties and four lead changes took place. In fourth quarter alone, 13 separate lead changes and four more ties took place. With a minute left on the clock, the barn was officially burning.
But it would all go wrong from there.
The Final Minute
After a straight away three from Anfernee Simons put the Blazers up, 109-106, Jalen Williams responded with a 10-foot pullup off the feed from Gilgeous-Alexander, 109-108. With two timeouts remaining, Chauncey Billups elected for a liveball scenario in order to force a foul by Oklahoma.
To counter, Mark Daigneault’s Thunder set up a perfect trap, snagging Brogdon between the jaws of Williams and Gilgeous-Alexander. Brogdon committed a double-dribble violation in desperation. However, before the violation is committed, the replay clearly shows Billups screaming at official Brandon Schwaub for a timeout.
An irate Billups confronts Schwaub and is immediately (and correctly) assessed the technical foul for touching the official. He is then ejected by Schwaub’s colleague, Jared Butler for unclear reasons. In the commotion, Crew Chief Bill Kennedy demands the Portland coaching staff escort Billups off the floor.
Gilgeous-Alexander would make one of the two technical free throws. And an isolation jumpshot from Jalen Williams would seal the win, 111-109 and an underthrown lob from Brogdon to Ayton would cap off a disappointing result for such fantastic effort.
If you’re a Thunder fan, it’s an asterisk affixed to an otherwise thrilling win. If you’re a Blazer fan, it’s a disturbing example of how officials can turn a game so haphazardly. All either team could do was move on to the next one.
How It Happened: Cosmic Justice in Space City
With no rest for the wearisome Trail Blazers, they faced off a Houston Rockets squad enjoying two days of rest. The Rockets themselves had just come off a frustrating loss against the Boston Celtics, who boast the league’s best record.
The first meeting of the season fittingly came during the NBA’s official “Rivals Week.” While the game did not make the slate of official, nationally televised games, both franchises have plenty of history, trades and beef.
(Oh, yeah, we went there. Your move, Rockets.)
First Half
Despite tired legs, the Trail Blazers showed the previous night’s game gave them plenty of fire to match Rockets’ rest. Despite the rest advantage, the Rockets missed Jabari Smith Jr. and Jae’Sean Tate due to injuries.
The challenge early for Portland would be stopping the Houston backcourt of wily veteran, Fred VanVleet and young dynamo Jalen Green. Green attacked the paint with impunity, scoring nine points in the quarter. His backcourt mate, Van Vleet, added six of his own.
The Trail Blazers answered via their own youthful backcourt in Simons and Henderson. The pair combined for 13 points. Neither team found a great advantage, as the quarter ended with the Rockets up by a single point, 31-30.
In the second quarter, Jalen Green started to heat up for another 10 in the quarter, 19 in the half. Rockets center Alperen Sengun added another six and a Globetrotter assist to Amen Thompson for the alley-oop jam in transition.
The Rockets capitalized on hot shooting, making 23-41 shots (56.1%) to the Blazers’ respectable 20-43 (46.5%). Their efforts created a 13-point lead as Portland’s legs began to show fatigue.
Yet the Blazers kept it close, responding by committee. Simons led the way with seven points, punctuating the half with a vicious tomahawk jam over Sengun, Meanwhile Brogdon, Walker and Deandre Ayton found some offensive rhythm.
Ayton, previously sidelined by injuries and early foul trouble, provided the key paint presence that kept it close. He gobbled up nine boards in the half and finished the game with 18 points, 17 rebounds and his 13th double double of the season. Brogdon would make the last shot in the half to keep the game within reach as the Rockets led, 63-57.
Second Half
In the third quarter, the Blazers came alive. Despite 33 points in the quarter from the Rockets on 13-25 shooting, the Blazers matched them shot for shot. But where the Rockets feasted on twos, the Blazers blistered from range, making eight three pointers in the quarter.
Simons went full inferno, scoring 16 points on 6-8 shooting, dishing out three assists and snagging three boards. He only missed two three point attempts. Jerami Grant added nine for the quarter, manufacturing points at the line. The key performance came from Matisse Thybulle, perfect from three for another nine points.
When the dust settled on the quarter, the Blazers had turned the tables up by a pair, 98-96.
In the fourth quarter, the Blazers found themselves in a familiar environment. It was a different barn, but it was still on fire. Crucially, the Blazers turned to defense to keep the game close. Thybulle and Toumani Camara continually picked pockets for easy transition points as Ayton found a way to cut off Sengun’s drive before he reached critical mass.
Critically, the team gave up seven turnovers of their own to allow the Rockets to not only come back into the game, but take a four point lead with under a minute remaining. The Blazers would require miracle.
And they found it. Twice.
The first came after a near-turnover by Simons bringing the ball up the floor. Frantically, he passed it to Grant who swung it to Brogdon for a difficult corner three with 3.2 seconds remaining. After playing the foul game and calling timeout to advance the ball, the Blazers ran a play to find Simons above the arc.
Unfortunately, Ime Udoka countered by placing Boban Marjanović on the ball and running a zone scheme to blow up the play.
Thinking fast, Grant ran up the gut, petered out to the far side wing and Brogdon lobbed it. This time, the ball found its mark. Grant raised and shot, and the bank was open. He may not have called glass, but the buzzer sounded overtime.
Overtime
In overtime, the winded Blazers turned to veteran guile to carry them through. Brogdon opened the scoring with another corner three pointer, and the Rockets, clearly deflated, quickly fell behind despite best efforts. Their offense sputtered, and the Blazers’ offense closed in.
A finger roll from Simons made it a seven point margin. A series of misses allowed the Rockets to close within four on a Sengun dunk. But a foul on Walker in the backcourt with seven seconds remaining sent the forward to line to seal the victory, 137-131.
Where To Next
The Trail Blazers split the back-to-back and will finish up their four-game road trip in San Antonio against the Spurs on Friday night. The team will return home for a three game stand against Chicago, Philadelphia and the return of Damian Lillard with his new squad, the Milwaukee Bucks.
