Final
Blazers pull away from Durant-less Thunder
Oct 30, 2014 - 6:33 AM Portland, OR (SportsNetwork.com) - Life without Kevin Durant was fine for the Oklahoma City Thunder through three quarters.Then the Portland Trail Blazers got red hot in the fourth.
LaMarcus Aldridge had 27 points and the Blazers pulled away for a 106-89 win over the Thunder in the season opener for both teams on Wednesday night.
The Thunder led 77-75 after three quarters, but Portland outscored them 31-12 in the final frame.
Russell Westbrook, who had 36 points through three, netted just two points on 1-of-6 shooting in the fourth.
Wesley Matthews nailed five 3-pointers and finished with 22 points, while Damian Lillard netted seven of his 10 points in the fourth for Portland, which went 54-28 a year ago and fell to eventual-champion San Antonio in the Western Conference semifinals of the playoffs.
"I was pleased the way we did it in the second half with defense," Blazers head coach Terry Stotts said. "Defense led to some good offense at the end."
Nicolas Batum tallied 16 points, six assists and five rebounds in the triumph.
Westbrook posted 26 of his 36 points in the first half, ended 11-of-26 from the field and sunk 15-of-16 foul shots for the Thunder, who lost to San Antonio in the West Finals last season.
"I thought our guys played their hearts out. We just made too many mistakes in the fourth quarter," Thunder head coach Scott Brooks said.
The reigning NBA MVP Durant, who led the league in scoring for a fourth time in the last five seasons, will miss the start of the year after undergoing surgery Oct. 16 to fix a bone fracture in his right foot.
Portland led 85-81 with 8:13 left before putting the game away with an 18-4 run.
Matthews knocked down back-to-back triples to highlight the surge, which was capped on a Thomas Robinson pull-up right elbow jumper for a 103-85 advantage with 1:31 to play.
Portland shot 54.5 percent (12-of-22) and limited the Thunder to just a 26.3 percent clip (5-of-19) in the final stanza.
Earlier, OKC led 34-29 following a quarter of play. Lance Thomas hit all five of his shots for a 10-point opening frame, while Westbrook added 11.
Right after Batum found Matthews for a dunk with 2.8 seconds left in the half, Westbrook received Darren Collison's ensuing inbounds pass near midcourt and raced the rest of the way before finishing with an emphating one-handed dunk right just prior to the horn for a 54-49 OKC lead going into the locker room.
Game Notes
Westbrook was 7-of-13 in the first half and sunk 12-of-13 from the charity stripe ... Portland put in 20 points off 15 OKC turnovers ... The Thunder were just 2-of-16 from beyond the arc.
- OKLAHOMA CITY: 89
PORTLAND: 106
Final
Oct 30 1:03 AM - 105
rootsRUWTbot Took away 7 roots (Individual Performance)
Thunder 85, Trail Blazers 95 4th - 4:38Oct 30 12:54 AM - 112
rootsRUWTbot Added 7 roots (Close Finish, Individual Performance)
Thunder 85, Trail Blazers 93 4th - 4:59Oct 30 12:54 AM - 105
rootsRUWTbot Took away 11 roots (Individual Performance)
Thunder 83, Trail Blazers 93 4th - 5:20Oct 30 12:51 AM - 116
rootsRUWTbot Added 5 roots (Close Finish, Individual Performance)
Thunder 83, Trail Blazers 91 4th - 5:56Oct 30 12:50 AM - 111
rootsRUWTbot Took away 13 roots (Close Finish, Individual Performance)
Thunder 83, Trail Blazers 91 4th - 6:22Oct 30 12:50 AM - 124
rootsRUWTbot Added 19 roots (Close Finish, Individual Performance)
Thunder 83, Trail Blazers 89 4th - 6:41Oct 30 12:49 AM - 105
rootsRUWTbot Took away 39 roots (Close Finish, Individual Performance)
Thunder 81, Trail Blazers 89 4th - 7:02Oct 30 12:46 AM - 144
rootsRUWTbot Added 10 roots (Close Finish, Individual Performance)
Thunder 81, Trail Blazers 85 4th - 7:55Oct 30 12:44 AM - 134
rootsRUWTbot Added 17 roots (Close Finish, Individual Performance)
Thunder 81, Trail Blazers 85 4th - 8:13Oct 30 12:44 AM - 117
rootsRUWTbot Took away 21 roots (Close Finish, Individual Performance)
Thunder 79, Trail Blazers 85 4th - 8:31Oct 30 12:44 AM - 138
rootsRUWTbot Added 16 roots (Close Finish, Individual Performance)
Thunder 79, Trail Blazers 83 4th - 9:24Oct 30 12:42 AM - 122
rootsRUWTbot Added 7 roots (Close Finish, Individual Performance)
Thunder 77, Trail Blazers 83 4th - 9:40Oct 30 12:41 AM - 115
rootsRUWTbot Took away 18 roots (Close Finish, Individual Performance)
Thunder 77, Trail Blazers 83 4th - 10:02Oct 30 12:40 AM - 133
rootsRUWTbot Took away 21 roots (Close Finish, Individual Performance)
Thunder 77, Trail Blazers 81 4th - 10:42Oct 30 12:36 AM - 154
rootsRUWTbot Added 12 roots (Close Finish, Individual Performance)
Thunder 77, Trail Blazers 78 4th - 11:16Oct 30 12:35 AM - OKLAHOMA CITY: 77
PORTLAND: 75
End of 3rd
Oct 30 12:31 AM - 142
rootsRUWTbot Added 14 roots (Individual Performance)
Thunder 77, Trail Blazers 75 3rd - 0:39Oct 30 12:30 AM - 128
rootsRUWTbot Added 14 roots (Individual Performance)
Thunder 73, Trail Blazers 75 3rd - 2:22Oct 30 12:25 AM - 114
rootsRUWTbot Added 5 roots (Individual Performance)
Thunder 73, Trail Blazers 72 3rd - 3:43Oct 30 12:23 AM - 109
rootsRUWTbot Added 12 roots (Individual Performance)
Thunder 73, Trail Blazers 70 3rd - 3:54Oct 30 12:22 AM - 97
rootsRUWTbot Added 12 roots (Individual Performance)
Thunder 73, Trail Blazers 70 3rd - 4:11Oct 30 12:22 AM - 85
rootsRUWTbot Took away 18 roots (Individual Performance)
Thunder 73, Trail Blazers 67 3rd - 4:22Oct 30 12:22 AM - 103
rootsRUWTbot Added 18 roots (Individual Performance)
Thunder 71, Trail Blazers 67 3rd - 4:35Oct 30 12:22 AM - 85
rootsRUWTbot Took away 5 roots (Individual Performance)
Thunder 70, Trail Blazers 65 3rd - 5:02Oct 30 12:19 AM - 90
rootsRUWTbot Added 5 roots (Individual Performance)
Thunder 68, Trail Blazers 65 3rd - 5:45Oct 30 12:15 AM - OKLAHOMA CITY: 54
PORTLAND: 49
Halftime
Oct 29 11:47 PM - OKLAHOMA CITY: 34
PORTLAND: 29
End of 1st
Oct 29 11:10 PM - OKLAHOMA CITY: 0
PORTLAND: 0
1st Quarter - 11:43
Oct 29 10:42 PM
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