The Portland Trail Blazers wrapped up their first road trip in strong fashion. A matchup with a slumping division rival could help their return home prove just as successful.
Portland attempts to add to its strong start and continue its recent dominance of the Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday night.
Portland (4-1) won the first two contests on a four-game trip before falling 110-98 to Chicago on Monday night. The Blazers bounced back Tuesday, limiting Milwaukee to 37.5 percent shooting overall and a 3-for-15 performance from 3-point range in a 90-76 win.“My teammates were finding me and I was able to make plays,” Matthews said. “Brandon Roy(notes) is going to draw a lot of attention. (LaMarcus Aldridge(notes)) is going to draw a lot of attention. You’ve got to move and make the game easy for them. By doing that, you get open looks.”
The Thunder (2-2) haven’t been able to take advantage of their looks at the hoop.
Oklahoma City has been one of the league’s worst-shooting teams early this season, connecting at a 39.3 percent clip from the field. They went 34 for 90 on Wednesday en route to their second straight loss, 107-92 at the previously winless Los Angeles Clippers.
Kevin Durant(notes) struggled mightily, shooting 6 of 24 overall, missing all 10 of his 3-point attempts and finishing with a season-low 16 points in the loss. The NBA’s reigning scoring champ is shooting 35.2 percent through the first four games - down significantly from his 47.6 field-goal percentage from each of the last two seasons.
“I’m the leader of this team,” Durant said. “Everybody follows me, so (when) I didn’t show up, the team didn’t show up. … No, it’s not too early (to worry). We’ve got to figure this out. Two games in a row, teams just did whatever they want on us. The offense didn’t look too good. It’s frustrating to watch as a player.”
Durant is averaging 30.7 points in his last three games against the Blazers, but it hasn’t helped much for the Thunder, who have dropped six of the last seven meetings in this series. The lone victory came Feb. 9, when Durant’s 33 points helped Oklahoma City prevail 89-77 at the Rose Garden over a Portland team playing without Roy (hamstring).
Roy also missed an April 12 rematch at home, but the Blazers won 103-95 as Marcus Camby(notes) scored 30. Portland point guard Andre Miller(notes) added 22 points in that win, and is averaging 23.3 in his last three games against the Thunder.
