Round 1, Game 5 Preview | Portland Trail Blazers

Zachary LowApril 23, 2019 No Comments

Tip-Off: 9:30 PM CT

Location: Moda Center (Portland, Oregon)

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 is facing a dire situation now as they head into Portland for Game 5 trailing 3-1 in the series. The Blazers have been one of the best teams in the NBA in front of their home crowd, and with the season on the line for OKC, odds are not in the Thunder’s favor.

If the Thunder wants to have any chance of winning tonight and extending the series, then the load has to fall heavily on Russell Westbrook and Paul George. Both players have had solid games in the series so far but never at the same time. It’s now or never, so perhaps they will both play well and push it to a Game 6 back in Oklahoma City.

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 1-3 (1-1 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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