Thunder run out of gas in Portland, 106-89

BOX SCORE

The Thunder graduated past moral victories sometime back in 2009. The only thing that has ever mattered since that first season was the final score.

But Wednesday’s opening 106-89 loss in Portland feels like a moral victory to me.

Playing with nine total players, the Thunder led 77-75 heading to the fourth quarter behind a ferocious performance from Russell Westbrook. He was sitting on 36 points while completely obliterating the Blazers almost every possession. It was the perfect kind of Westbrook, the one we were all hoping to see in this Durantless period: Maniacal, relentless and anything but shy. Westbrook never balked a single possession overthinking the offense. He picked his spots beautifully, bouncing between getting teammates involved and completely dominated the ball. If someone was open, they got the ball. If they weren’t, he cranked Attack Mode to 11 and took off downhill.

Like a minivan on a cross country road trip, it all came to a sputtering halt early in the fourth quarter. Westbrook had to sit — because this is the first game of the season and the Thunder are on a back-to-back — and it was left to the Oklahoma City Blue’s second unit to try and keep pace with Portland’s explosive offense.

The Thunder opened the fourth going almost three minutes without points as the Blazers started clicking. Wes Matthews and Damian Lillard hit back-to-back 3s to give Portland its biggest lead thus far, 81-77. Chris Kaman then dropped a little 10-footer and the lead was up to six, and it might as well have been 60. The score was 85-81 with 8:40 left when Westbrook returned, which actually gave the Thunder a good look at how they might handle a crunchtime situation. And while the offense failed miserably, it was the defense that completely imploded.

The Blazers last 15 possessions: 21 points, and that includes almost three minutes of garbage time. At the real crux of the game, from 7:07 to 3:01, the Blazers shredded OKC for 16 points in eight trips. Matthews hit back-to-back 3s to pump the lead to 16 and cinch the deal.

The Thunder had three problems in those last eight minutes:

1) They were playing with nine players and completely ran out of gas

2) They lost their defensive edge entirely, and didn’t have the horses to keep up on the offensive end

3) They didn’t have No. 35

But like I said, despite a 17-point loss, I’m actually extremely encouraged. Don’t forget, this Portland team is exceptionally good, especially at home. This was a toss-up game with a full-strength Thunder roster. If you wake up tomorrow without having watched the game and look at the final score and think, “Yep, that’s about what I expected,” you’re missing the fact the Thunder played really well for about 40 minutes. Westbrook was absolutely electric and there were even some really nice offensive actions happening throughout. They definitely need a better secondary option to step up than Lance Freaking Thomas (sup Serge Ibaka), but the Thunder can survive this month ahead. They’re going to lose more games than they otherwise would’ve, but they can beat a lot of teams as well. It’s going to take some Westbrook efforts like tonight, but he has the kind of ability to produce like this many times more. That was one of my favorite things people tweeted me tonight. “Brooks is wasting a great Westbrook performance!” as if he’s incapable of ever playing like this again. Westbrook’s a great player; he’s going to play great a lot.

The Thunder are in a different kind of world right now and things will get better when Reggie Jackson and Jeremy Lamb (hopefully) return next week. That provides Westbrook built-in options and means Perry Jones and Friends play less. What Westbrook needed most tonight was help, and he couldn’t really look around the floor and find any. They’re probably going to get blitzed tomorrow in L.A., but that’s OK. Remember: This is one of 82. This is a tough spot to be in. Don’t trap yourself into the present and evaluate the Thunder’s season based on what you last saw. If anything, feel good about the place they’re in. They can survive.

NOTES:

• Westbrook’s first half numbers: 26 points on 7-13 shooting, five assists. After three quarters: 36 points on 10-20 shooting, six assists. Final numbers: 38 points on 11-26 shooting, six assists.

• Oh, and Westbrook only turned it over twice.

• It was apparent throughout the game that Westbrook was responsible for generating EVERYTHING within the Thunder’s offense. There’s no other creative option on the floor at any time. In all reality, the second best offensive weapon to give the ball to is Nick Collison, and let him run two-man with anyone from the elbows. That’s not a joke. That’s just where things are.

• Westbrook took 25 shots, but really, I can only think of one or two that were probably forced. He probably got a bit too liberal in the fourth, but he needed to make something happen and it was painfully obvious no one else was going to. Like I said, I came away extremely impressed with how remarkably not awkward it was watching Westbrook comandeer the offense. He looked confident and comfortable, handling everything just as he should. It’s a fine line from dominating the ball entirely and trying to work in teammates, especially when half of them are third unit guys.

• Did my eyes fail me or did I see the Thunder running a little flex offense with their ugly group in the second quarter? Brooks is an easy target because the simple-minded can point at things like who he played and didn’t play, but I came away really impressed with the way he handled this game. He had his guys prepared as best he could with the personnel he had, and found a way to get decent offense out of a lineup that consisted of Sebastian Telfair, Andre Roberson, Lance Thomas, Nick Collison and Kendrick Perkins.

• The best offense the Thunder ran came out of Flex Horns, something they ran with two high bigs (Adams and Ibaka) and Westbrook, picking a high ball screen and either attacking or pulling up from midrange. Flex offense makes a lot of sense for the Thunder because of the box-to-box screening that happens in it, and much like what Jerry Sloan and the Jazz could do with Deron Williams, the Thunder can invert it and put Westbrook on the block and pull a good jump-shooting big like Ibaka out to the top of the key. I suspect we’ll see a lot of this over the next few weeks.

• It’s amazing how many times throughout a game I completely forget Perry Jones is playing. That’s a bad thing, right?

• You want to point a finger? Point it at Ibaka. Ten points is not enough, and he can’t be turning it over five times.

• A big negative: The Thunder couldn’t create any looks from 3. For one, they didn’t really have anyone on the floor that could make them, but the offense was unable to produce anything either. They shot 2-16, with five attempts from Telfair, three from Collison and three from Ibaka. They don’t have any shooters on the floor so defenses are just going to suck in to the paint more and more and more. For Westbrook to function at optimum effectiveness, he needs someone to kick to once he beats the first man and then second man.

• There’s going to be a lot of focus on what Westbrook produced, but don’t overlook what he prevented. Damian Lillard got absolutely worked by Russ tonight. Lillard didn’t score his first point until mid-third quarter, and finished with just 10 points on 3-10 shooting. Westbrook’s defense was outstanding.

• It was a little surreal watching Perk check in off the bench.

• And you know what, ol’ Perk did some pretty decent things tonight. Had eight boards in 21 minutes and played some quality defense inside. Sure, LaMarcus Aldridge dropped some rainbow jumpers over him, but when that shot’s falling, it’s pretty much indefensible.

• I expected Steven Adams to be a lot more involved in the offense. He only ran pick-and-roll with Westbrook a handful of times.

• Jones wasn’t just lifeless on offense, but he was a disaster on the defensive end. He routinely was getting lost off the ball as either Nic Batum or Wes Matthews ran him off screens, and he didn’t even defend well on it. If I’m Brooks, I’m already considering starting Lance Thomas in his place tomorrow.

• Speaking of Thomas, what the hell? It’s a pretty bad thing that he was the Thunder’s second leading scorer tonight, but he was great! He had 14 on 7-10 shooting, with 10 at halftime. He has a decent midrange and has a knack for slipping into spots to catch and finish in the paint. I have no idea what position he actually plays, but he did some decent things!

• On Brooks sitting Westbrook the first 3:20 of the fourth: It’s incredible how many people were crying out for Brooks to put Westbrook back in when everyone has spent the last six years slobbering all over Gregg Popovich for the way he manages minutes. How short-sighted can you be to think his game carries enough importance to play Westbrook 42 minutes on the first of a back-to-back? A lot of people tweeted me saying Brooks wasted an opportunity to get a win. When Westbrook checked back in, the Thunder were down four. And there is absolutely no guarantee that they were going to win this game had Westbrook played the entire fourth. In fact, chances were actually pretty slim. So instead of slogging Westbrook through 39 minutes and probably a loss regardless, Brooks stole some minutes and kept the long run in mind, as he should. Kevin Durant is missing the first six weeks of the season due to likely overuse. And yet you want Brooks to run Westbrook until he keels over? Man.

• We’re one game into the season and I’ve already been firmly reminded: Some fans are really stupid.

• Shouts out to Kevin Durant for his bench work tonight. That dude is just outstanding. Every play he’s popping up to yell encouragement at his guys and clap them on. Watching him watch Westbrook was a joy.

• The Thunder didn’t defend without fouling very well: 28 to Portland’s 19.

• That play from Westbrook before halftime. Hook that to my veins.

• Remember: The Thunder had nine total players for this game tonight. You want to gripe about lineup choices and who played and didn’t, remember that Brooks was allotted four players to choose from on his bench. You try and mix and match 48 minutes with that.

Next up: At the Clippers on Thursday