Three Takeaways from the OKC Thunder's 62-Point Win Over the Trail Blazers
In a full-circle moment, the Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Portland Trail Blazers by a whopping 62 points to tie the the Timberwolves for the best record in the Western Conference.
Here are three takeaways from the Thunder's monster win Thursday evening:
A Portland Pummeling
Entering the night, Oklahoma City was just 13-point favorites over the Trail Blazers.
After a win as big as the one it just put up, that might not seem like much, but the sentiment remained the same as it did prior to tipoff: the Thunder was expected to win over Portland.
Coming off of a game the night before seemingly didn't matter, even though it disadvantaged Oklahoma City. In fact, instead of letting the fatigue slow down its production, it used it as further motivation. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander did his thing, recording 31 points, five assists and four rebounds on an efficient 11-15 shooting clip.
But it wasn't just Gilgeous-Alexander who had himself a night.
Every player besides Aaron Wiggins and Isaiah Joe — 13 in total — notched points against the Trail Blazers and every starter finished in double figures. Oklahoma City shot a collective 57 percent from the floor en route to its biggest margin of victory in franchise history, and in short left Portland with no way to respond.
Only two Trail Blazers finished with double figures against the Thunder in what became a complete domination for the home team.
It isn't often that a win of this magnitude surfaces in the NBA, but Oklahoma City got one.
And it got its money worth.
Passing Up The Competition
While a lot of the focus of the Thunder's big night was on its efficient scoring night, there was another record reached against the Trail Blazers, and it wasn't scoring related.
Josh Giddey led the way as Oklahoma City tied its franchise-best 41 assists on the evening. The point guard — who's been finding his rhythm ever since his slow start — tallied 12 while Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams and Tre Mann all notched four.
Giddey nearly out-passed the entire Trail Blazers team on his own, as they tallied just 16 total en route to their lowest point total in recent memory and second-worst loss in franchise history.
While the game was obviously won in points, passing paved the way for Oklahoma City to notch a victory, and tells the story of not only an efficient offense, but efficient team work — and if it can continue that, more wins are surely to come.
At least, that's what the Thunder hopes for moving forward.
Reaching The Apex
Oklahoma City hasn't been this good since Kevin Durant put on the orange and blue threads.
Back during those days, it was normal to see the Thunder in the playoffs. Seeing Oklahoma City in the win column was almost expected, even though it fell just short of a championship. And while that hasn't been the case in quite some time, since the team let go of Paul George to officially end the big-3 era, it's beginning to come full circle for the young team.
Two seasons ago, it got the chance to draft Chet Holmgren with the No. 2 pick because of how bad the woes had gotten. And last season, it surprised everyone by making the play-in. This season hasn't been anything like last year, but at the same time, the expectations are vastly different.
Making the postseason last year set the tone for this season's squad, and it's delivered. Not only is it winning games, but it's winning more games than anyone in the Western Conference except the Minnesota Timberwolves — though they sit tied with Oklahoma City for the No. 1 spot.
The Thunder has finally reached the apex of its season and the Western Conference, which is leaps and bounds ahead of what many expected. But as it's proven before, it isn't concerned about what "many" thinks.
All it cares about it is being the best it can be. And that it's done.
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