Portland Trail Blazers

Portland Trail Blazers

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Blazers Rock The Thunder

----- Russell Westbrook scores a career-high 58 points, but the Trail Blazers come up big in the fourth quarter and silence the Thunder 126-121 Tuesday nigh in Oklahoma City.

One night after the Trail Blazers game at Minnesota was rescheduled for a later date due to condensation on the floor, they registered their most impressive road win on the season at Oklahoma City 126-121, and by doing so won the regular season series by taking three of four games against the Thunder.

Tonight's game was a team-win as they Blazers had seven players score in double-figures. Allen Crabbe scored a team-high 23 points off the bench, Damian Lillard scored 22 points, 21 points for CJ McCollum, and Jusuf Nurkic came up big with 17 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists, and two huge field goals in the final minute when the Blazers held off a furious Thunder run. Nurkic scored six of the Blazers final 10 points in the game.

Oklahoma City (35-29) was led by Russell Westbrook. He scored a career high 58 points. Only two of his teammates scored in double figures as Enes Kanter scored 11 points off the bench, and Victor Oladipo finished with 16 points.

Neither team had problems making shots on the night. The Blazers finished the night shooting 55.3% from the field while the Thunder made 51.8% of their field goal attempts.

The Thunder opened the game on fire building a 30-16 lead in the first and ended the period with a 40-29 lead shooting 75% from the floor. The Blazers opened the second quarter on an 11-0 run to tie the game. The Blazers bench led the charge combining for 26 points in the first half.  Allen Crabbe scored 12 points with both Meyers Leonard and Al-Farouq Aminu each scoring seven points.

Russell Westbrook went wild in the half for the Thunder scoring 28 points and 5 assists. The Thunder shot 67.6% from the floor in the first half while the Blazers connected on 55.0% of their field goals.

The Blazers started to take control of the game in the third quarter. After Westbrook hit two free throws to give the Thunder a 85-84 lead with 5:39 left in the period, the Blazers would close out the quarter on a 15-7 run to take a 99-92 lead entering fourth quarter.

The Blazers took a nine-point lead at 112-103 after an Aminu jumper with 5:05 remaining in the game, but the Thunder responded with a 13-4 run to tie the game at 116-116 before consecutive field goals by Nurkic pushed the Blazers lead back to four at 120-116.

The Thunder would cut the lead to one point at 120-119 with :26 seconds remaining in the game, but free throws by Nurkic, McCollum, and Lillard would finish the game for the Blazers.

Portland (27-35) will go for a season-high four-game winning streak as they host the Philadelphia 76ers Thursday night at the Moda Center.

Chad's Take- This was the Blazers best win of the year. Coming into tonight's game, the Blazers were just 10-22 on the road and had shown an inability to close out games in the fourth quarter.  But tonight was different. The Blazers showed toughness by resisting a furious Thunder run in the fourth, and it came on a night when Russell Westbrook scored a career-high 58 points. The bench was the most pleasant surprise. They got the Blazers back into the game in the first half by combining for 26 points.  On the night, the bench dropped 40 points with Allen Crabbe scoring a team-high 23 points. Jusuf Nurkic was huge tonight. Nurkic saved his best for last as he scored six-points in the final minute finishing the game with 17 points, 8 rebounds, and 4 assists. Nurkic is a legit player.

Blazers at Thunder highlights:


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