Tip-Off: 8:30 PM CT
Location: Chesapeake Energy Arena (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma)
Television: TNT and Fox Sports Oklahoma
Radio: WWLS 98.1FM OKC The Sports Animal
Twitter: Follow @TheThunderGuys for live-tweets during the game
The Oklahoma City Thunder picked up a 120-108 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers in Game 3 in what many considered to be a must-win game. The Thunder needs to get another win at home tonight to even up the series before heading back to Game 5 in Portland.
Paul George shot poorly yet again in Game 3, but role players stepped up, and Jerami Grant played a near perfect game. OKC cannot be successful for long without their All-Star Forward, so George will need to step his game up and start knocking down shots, all while playing the stifling level of defense of which he’s capable.
Perhaps the biggest story around this series is the mounting drama between Russell Westbrook and Damian Lillard. If Oklahoma City can control the emotions of the game, it will do the Thunder well in picking up another win. However, if Lillard manages to get into the heads of OKC, then it could be a tough night.
Priority number one is taking care of business at home, and then riding the momentum all the way back to Portland for Game 5.
Projected Starters
Thunder
- PG: Russell Westbrook
- SG: Terrance Ferguson
- SF: Paul George
- PF: Jerami Grant
- C: Steven Adams
Trail Blazers
- PG: Damian Lillard
- SG: CJ McCollum
- SF: Maurice Harkless
- PF: Al-Farouq Aminu
- C: Enes Kanter
Injuries
Thunder
- Hamidou Diallo (right elbow surgery) is OUT.
- Andre Roberson (left patellar tendon) is OUT.
Trail Blazers
- Jusuf Nurkic (fractured left leg) is OUT.
Head-to-Head
- Since arriving in Oklahoma City in 2008, the Thunder is 22-22 (13-9 at home, 9-13 on the road) against the Trail Blazers in the regular season and 1-2 (1-0 at home, 0-2 on the road) in the playoffs.
- Since arriving in Oklahoma City in 2008, the Thunder has won the season series against the Trail Blazers 4 times, lost it 5 times, and tied twice.
- The Thunder swept the Blazers 4-0 this season (2-0 at home, 2-0 on the road).
Game Notes
- The Thunder and the Blazers have both seen first-round exits the last two years of playoffs.
- Oklahoma City was 22-19 on the road this season while Portland was 32-9 at home.
- Oklahoma City went 28-24 against the Western Conference this season while Portland went 29-23.
- The Thunder went 29-21 after 1 day of rest this season while the Blazers went 37-17 after 1 day of rest.
- Oklahoma City Thunder Official Game Notes
- Portland Trail Blazers Official Game Notes
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