The Portland Trail Blazers’ matchup with the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday night was a lot. It was dead and then alive. Frustrating and then euphoric. Hard to watch and then must-see TV. It was imperfect and wacky and nerve-wracking. Above all, it was a win, as the Blazers rallied from 22 down to defeat the Thunder 121-119 at the Moda Center.
“It’s a resilient group,” Blazers interim head coach Tiago Splitter said about his team. “[They’re] guys that never give up, and today
they showed this again.”
The Blazers shot 23.1% from the field in the first quarter, scoring just 21 points and falling behind by 20. Then in the fourth, the Blazers exploded for 40 points on 81.3% shooting to overtake reigning MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Co. for the win. That polarizing start and finish helps encapsulate the strangeness of Wednesday. That strangeness — and why Portland was able to rise above it — was also encapsulated by the performance and persistence of forward Deni Avdija.
On a night Avdija failed to score a field goal in the opening 35 minutes and began 0-11 from the field, he was still the Blazers’ best player. The 6-foot-8 forward powered Portland to the win with his relentless downhill force, and battled through that rough shooting start to finish with a team-high 26 points (on 5-17 shooting from the field, 15-16 FTs), 10 rebounds, nine assists, two steals and a block.
“I know,” Avdija said to a reporter who mentioned that 0-11 start. “Trust me.”
What’s most peculiar is Avdija was still probably Portland’s most impactful player in the first half, even with the shooting woes. He was still attacking the rim, which resulted in a 9-10 mark from the free throw line in the first half. His pressure on the defense also helped him dish out six assists without a single turnover.
“I tried to play good defense, I tried to grab the boards,” Avdija said. “I was happy I was able to go to the line and participate and be good around my poor shooting night.”
With 38 seconds left in the third quarter, Avdija finally broke through for his first field goal on a stepback, 15-foot jumper that cut OKC’s lead to eight points. Then as the Blazers worked to kick past the Thunder in the fourth, Avdija broke loose with 11 points on 4-5 shooting and three more assists. The scoring diet featured three blow-by drives and a quick-trigger, pull-up 3 that oozed of confidence. That shot put the Blazers up 115-106 with 2:12 remaining. He followed up that big shot with two clutch assists in the final 1:15 to hold the Thunder at bay as they threatened a comeback.
“I think tonight especially, [he was] getting us into rhythm, getting us wide open shots and doing a little bit of everything,” Blazers guard Jrue Holiday said about Avdija.
Holiday was also instrumental in the win, especially late. The steady veteran went perfect from the field and buried two 3s in the fourth quarter. With a midrange jumper, Holiday gave the Blazers their first lead of the night at 97-96 with 6:44 remaining. He also made two free throws with seven seconds left to keep the Blazers up three ahead of the Thunder’s final, and ultimately, unsuccessful possession.
Together, Avdija, Holiday and others made big play after big play down the stretch to cap off the comeback.
“I don’t know,” Avdija said about what flipped for him in that fourth quarter. “I just locked in, I was kind of in a rhythm, and I believed in my skill and what I do. It just went good.”
Avdija thought the comeback was another sign of growth for this year’s Blazers team. If this was last season, he said that 20-point deficit might’ve ballooned to 40, and the game would’ve turned into extended garbage time. After that first quarter, it looked like it was heading that way. Even with OKC missing several key players (Chet Holmgren, Jalen Williams, Luguentz Dort, Alex Caruso), their foundation of talent and execution looked like it was still a cut above the new and improved Blazers. This writer was starting to kick around ideas of how to write that story for this game — just as he had done multiple times last season when the Blazers rubbed elbows with contenders — and then the Blazers fought back. And then they seized it.
As the dust settled from a topsy-turvy night, the Blazers improved their promising early-season record to 5-3. They already had wins over the Golden State Warriors and Denver Nuggets. And for now, they’re the only team to beat the Oklahoma City Thunder this season.
“Teams are coming here, and they know they can’t … play around,” Avdija said. “We’re tough. We’re aggressive. We’re talented. We’re young. We’re fast, and we’re on an uprise. As I said, there’s something special in Portland.”
More Notes
- Splitter was happy about the team’s comeback against OKC, though he still had Monday’s letdown loss against the Los Angeles Lakers on his mind: “I’m still disappointed about that last Laker game because we showed that we can compete like this against great teams, so I’ve gotta be on my A-game and try to get them to play like this every night.”
- Avdija also discussed how that Lakers loss gave the team a bit of a wake-up call: “It’s good. It gave us a nice slap to come and win versus OKC.”
- Splitter talked about Holiday’s impact tonight and this season so far: “It’s just great to have a leader there who is smart and just knows the game and knows what’s going on. Sometimes, he even [says], ‘No, Coach, let’s do this.’ I’m like, ‘fine. If you feel like, let’s do it.’ So he’s a guy that has a lot of experience and is great for these guys.”
- It would be malpractice for this piece not to mention the excellence of Duop Reath. The reserve center sparked the dead-in-the-water Blazers offense with three 3s in the second quarter, helping Portland get back into the game. He also buried a heavily contested 3 just before the third-quarter buzzer that gave Portland momentum riding into the fourth. After that big shot, Reath gave an MJ shrug as he backpedaled on defense. Reath finished with 12 points on 4-5 shooting, and he was given the game ball from the win.
