Should the Portland Trail Blazers fall short of qualifying for the Western Conference play-in tournament by one game, what went down Friday night could haunt them.
The Blazers lost 107-89 at the Oklahoma City Thunder, owners of the best record in the NBA. That wouldn’t have been shocking had the Thunder not sat all five starters.
MVP candidate Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (rest), Chet Holmgren (leg), Jalen Williams (wrist), Luguentz Dortz (knee) and Isaiah Hartenstein (nasal) were all out.
Yet the Blazers couldn’t take advantage.
Granted, the Blazers were playing the final stop of a grueling seven-game trip. But given the difficulty of the Blazers' remaining schedule, they are in no position to waste opportunities to pick up victories against dominant teams that leave a combined 89.8 points per game on the bench.
The Blazers shot just 34.7% from the field and 18.6% from three-point range (8 of 43). They committed 18 turnovers that the Thunder converted into 25 points.
Thunder guard Aaron Wiggins, who entered the night averaging 11.8 points per game, scored 30 on 13-of-26 shooting.
The Blazers received 22 points off the bench from Scoot Henderson and 19 from Shaedon Sharpe. But the Blazers' starters went 4 of 27 from three-point range. Jerami Grant went 0 of 6, Toumani Camara 1 of 6 and Anfernee Simons 1 of 6.
Portland Trail Blazers v Oklahoma City Thunder
Jerami Grant #9 of the Portland Trail Blazers steals the ball from Ousmane Dieng #13 of the Oklahoma City Thunder during the second quarter at Paycom Center on March 7, 2025 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. (Photo by William Purnell/Getty Images)Getty Images
The night began slowly for the Blazers, who trailed by nine in the first quarter. They got their offense going and worked their way into a leading 36-31 in the second.
The Thunder responded by dominating the rest of the second quarter, closing with a 19-2 run to lead 63-45 at halftime.
“We didn’t give ourselves a chance in that first half,” Blazers coach Chauncey Billups told reporters. “I didn’t think we pressured. We got away from who we are, in terms of defensively. We just let them drive around us. No help there. Let them get confidence, and it really, really just backfired on us. Got ourselves into too big of a hole.”
Portland got back into the game with a dominant third quarter (28-17) and trailed just 87-85 with 7:07 to go in the fourth.
But Sharpe missed a go-ahead three and that led to an 18-4 Thunder run that put them up 105-89 with 1:25 remaining.
“We fought like crazy, got it to two,” Billups said. “But you almost got to play perfect in those situations. Fighting so hard, I thought we ran out of gas a little bit. Couldn’t score the last six minutes of the game.”
Portland Trail Blazers v Oklahoma City Thunder
Toumani Camara #33 of the Portland Trail Blazers drives to the basket around Ousmane Dieng #13 of the Oklahoma City Thunder during the first quarter at Paycom Center on March 7, 2025 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. (Photo by William Purnell/Getty Images)Getty Images
WHAT IT MEANS
The Blazers (28-36) blew a chance to pick up a game on 10th-place Dallas (32-32), which lost 122-111 at home to Memphis. The Blazers remain four games behind the Mavericks.
The Thunder (52-11), owners of the best record in the West, have now won six consecutive games.
GRANT STRUGGLES
Grant returned after missing four games with knee tendinitis and his night did not go well.
Grant started, played just short of 24 minutes and scored four points on 2-of-10 shooting.
Forward Deni Avdija sat out with a left quad injury suffered for the second time Wednesday at Boston.
NEXT UP
The Blazers return home to host the Detroit Pistons (35-28) at 6 p.m. Sunday.
-- Aaron Fentress | afentress@Oregonian.com | @AaronJFentress (Twitter), @AaronJFentress (Instagram), @AaronFentress (Facebook)