In what will surely be remembered as the best basketball game that would happen on April 3, 2021 (by the way, I wonder what happened in Gonzaga-UCLA) the Portland Trail Blazers blew out the Oklahoma City Thunder 133-85. CJ McCollum was the leading scorer for Portland with 20 points that night, while Kenrich Williams led OKC with 18 points off the bench.
You can find Dave Deckard’s overview of the term-by-term action in our Instant Recap. Here are five observations of the action tonight.
An eruption?!?!?
It was an honest to goodness outburst. There was never any doubt that the Blazers would win, and neither should there ever have been. A Thunder team that has no Shai Gilgeous-Alexander or Al Horford? Yes, it’s probably not going to go well for OKC.
Still, it’s good for the Blazers to bury an opponent regardless of skill level. Remember, just last week, Portland played a game where the Orlando Magic were an NBA team, but rare. It was much closer than it should have been. Portland has to consistently put teams away like that, and it was a pleasure to see them do that tonight.
Enes Kanter Effective off the bench
It’s not as expected, but Enes Kanter has been pretty good off the bench since Jusuf Nurkic’s return. Kanter makes life miserable for second units with his relentless pursuit of rebounds, yielding extra possessions. He had 12 points and 17 boards tonight. I have a feeling he will have some more doubles doubles this season.
Far from NORM-al
Norman Powell has been very good to the Blazers since joining the club on the NBA deadline. He is also an effective attacking player and a solid defender. He may not have a game where he finishes +54 in plus-minus, like former Blazer Gary Trent Jr. just did for the Toronto Raptors, but we saw how Powell can be effective.
Tonight, Terry Stotts enabled Powell to create. I would like to see more of it. Powell knows how to get a chance. Why not put the ball in his hands more when Damian Lillard or McCollum are on the bench? Why does not Lillard run amok from the ball while Powell takes control? Stormin ‘Norman is not much of a passer, but I can not see how letting Lillard get off the ball every now and then can be bad. The Blazers can get more creative with the use of Powell.
Good defense or bad offense?
The Blazers technically had a good defensive game. The Thunder committed 22 turnovers, a season high for a Blazers opponent this year. They shot less than 40% of the field and made less than 30% of their tries. They just couldn’t create anything for themselves because the Blazers put up the clamps.
However, I do not see this game as a good barometer for the defense of Portland. This Thunder team did not even make an average creator. Their best was perhaps rookie Theo Maledon, and he won 1-for-12. It was a good defensive game from Portland, but it’s not enough to reevaluate them.
Moses Brown, anyone?
One last thought, because there’s just so much to take away from a game like this: it was nice to see Moses Brown tonight! It was great to see him do well with the Thunder and get a long-term contract, even if the contract has more loopholes than one can count. His good play means it’s worth at least a few minutes of your time to think about whether he’s worth keeping Brown in Portland.
Okay, maybe not to actually play. He was legally awful when he walked into court for the Blazers last year. But his case is a case that makes me think about how great it would be if Portland had a direct G-League subsidiary to develop guys like Brown. He has worked hard to develop and utilize his body in a way that he can set up at least large numbers, especially in the G-League. I still do not think he is particularly good, but I am also glad that he now has a chance in an NBA career. His career reinforces Portland’s need for a G-League team.
Following
Immediate summary
Box count
The Blazers will then head south to Los Angeles for their game against the Clippers. They play PT on Tuesday at 19:00.