- Sep 1, 2012
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The Oklahoma City Thunder will need to snap out of their cold funk if they hope to complete a four-game season sweep of Portland when they visit the Trail Blazers on Thursday. All-Star forward Paul George averaged 40 points in the three victories with a high of 47. The Thunder will need more of that if they want to cover a spread for the first time since Feb. 11.
The Trail Blazers really feed off their home crowd at the start of a game, ranking second in the NBA in first quarter points per game at 30.5 when playing at the Moda Center. Meanwhile the Thunder are averaging just 24.7 opening-frame points in their last three games. However, the Blazers haven?t scored more than 28 first quarter points in the three matchups with the Thunder and the two teams have combined to score an average of just 56 first quarter points in those contests.
The Thunder?s defense has struggled during the eight-game ATS skid, especially in the first half of games, surrendering 63.1 first half points per contest during that stretch. A lot of that can be attributed to the fact that Paul George has been nursing a shoulder injury. Mix in the fact Portland has the third best average first half margin at home at +6, while OKC owns an average road margin of -0.7. And in the lone matchup between these guys in Portland, despite losing the Blazers entered half with a slim lead.
These are obviously two teams trending in the opposite directions, while OKC has the matchup edge this season, its Portland who is the blazing heading into this game. The Thunder have lost six of eight, going 0-8 ATS in the process, while the Blazers have won six of eight, going 7-1 ATS. Portland plays its first home game since the All-Star break after a seven-game road trip, so their loss at Memphis in the final game of that stretch is understandable. The Blazers and Damian Lillard, who is averaging 29.3 points against Oklahoma City this season, are going to be amped up for this matchup, which will put the winner in fourth place in the conference.
The Trail Blazers really feed off their home crowd at the start of a game, ranking second in the NBA in first quarter points per game at 30.5 when playing at the Moda Center. Meanwhile the Thunder are averaging just 24.7 opening-frame points in their last three games. However, the Blazers haven?t scored more than 28 first quarter points in the three matchups with the Thunder and the two teams have combined to score an average of just 56 first quarter points in those contests.
The Thunder?s defense has struggled during the eight-game ATS skid, especially in the first half of games, surrendering 63.1 first half points per contest during that stretch. A lot of that can be attributed to the fact that Paul George has been nursing a shoulder injury. Mix in the fact Portland has the third best average first half margin at home at +6, while OKC owns an average road margin of -0.7. And in the lone matchup between these guys in Portland, despite losing the Blazers entered half with a slim lead.
These are obviously two teams trending in the opposite directions, while OKC has the matchup edge this season, its Portland who is the blazing heading into this game. The Thunder have lost six of eight, going 0-8 ATS in the process, while the Blazers have won six of eight, going 7-1 ATS. Portland plays its first home game since the All-Star break after a seven-game road trip, so their loss at Memphis in the final game of that stretch is understandable. The Blazers and Damian Lillard, who is averaging 29.3 points against Oklahoma City this season, are going to be amped up for this matchup, which will put the winner in fourth place in the conference.
