The regular season ended with both the Thunder and the Blazers hobbling into the playoffs and neither guaranteed much postseason success. Portland lost its best player, cruelly, to a gruesome leg fracture in the 55th minute of a late-March game while Oklahoma City clawed for every win down the stretch, taxing its players in the
Oklahoma City Thunder
“Lazy! Ballhog! Choker!” The basketball social media universe is unforgiving for a number of players in the NBA. By scanning the timelines of many users in this world, you’ll see all kinds of arguments and debates—seriously or jokingly—rooted in recency bias due to the 24/7 news cycle rate at which news happens in 2019. A
Damian Lillard sent the Thunder packing and his Trail Blazers to the second round with an all-time great playoff performance. One of the feistiest first-round series in this year’s playoffs was ended by one of the greatest shots in playoff history. With the score tied at 115, Damian Lillard calmly dribbled the ball just this
Damian Lillard and company have answered every challenge from the Thunder, taking Game 4 and giving the Trail Blazers control of this series. The Thunder seemed to have stolen momentum in Game 3, getting a big night from Russell Westbrook and trolling Damian Lillard throughout their first win of the series. The Trail Blazers bounced
Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum were too much for the Thunder, pushing the Trail Blazers to a blowout Game 2 win. Through two games, the series between the Portland Trail Blazers and Oklahoma City Thunder has been sketched in by the stars. Paul George, with a bum shoulder, and Russell Westbrook have traded off having
PORTLAND, OR – APRIL 14: Damian Lillard #0 of the Portland Trail Blazers reacts during play against the Oklahoma City Thunder in the first quarter at Moda Center on April 14, 2019 in Portland, Oregon. (Photo by Steve Dykes/Getty Images) Breanna Stewart appears to suffer serious leg injury in Euroleague title game by Ian Levy
A duel between Russell Westbrook and Damian Lillard favored the Oklahoma City Thunder at home, who won, 120-108, to keep their 2019 NBA Playoffs hopes alive. The nature of basketball says teams generally go as far as your best player take them but rarely do such top-heavy groups test that truism as aggressively as Portland
PORTLAND, OR – APRIL 16: Steven Adams #12 of the Oklahoma City Thunder talks with Damian Lillard #0 of the Portland Trail Blazers during Game Two of Round One of the 2019 NBA Playoffs on April 16, 2019 at the Moda Center in Portland, Oregon. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by
Before the playoffs began, we used this space to check in on six key questions that would help decide who won the first-round series between the Portland Trail Blazers and Oklahoma City Thunder. The Blazers now lead that series 2-0 after sweeping their home-game set, so we figured now was as good a time as
The NBA Playoffs are finally here, but at what cost? This week, the community said goodbye to two certain Hall of Famers — Dwyane Wade and Dirk Nowitzki. Beyond their cemented statuses as adored fan favorites for nearly 20 years, the pair also boast an insane amount of professional achievements. Wade finishes his career with
Last year in this space, we introduced a metric called Wins Above Age-Derived Expectation, or WAADE. It measures exactly what it sounds like: how many more wins an NBA team actually gets than you would have expected them to based on their minutes-weighted age. In introducing the metric, we highlighted several teams that stood out
Welcome to The Whiteboard, catching you up every morning on what’s good around the NBA. Find The Whiteboard here on The Step Back, and subscribe here to get it delivered to you by email. He’s brash and bold, with the awe-inspiring, slack-jaw inducing illustriousness of a shooting star. From his avant-garde pregame fashion choices to the Mount
The Thunder have been slipping as the regular season winds down but they still have everything they need for a historic playoff run. The Oklahoma City Thunder seem a bit stuck right now. They have two of the best players in the NBA and are clearly good enough to make the playoffs and give opponents
NEW YORK, NY – DECEMBER 05: Russell Westbrook #0 of the Oklahoma City Thunder gestures against the Brooklyn Nets during their game at the Barclays Center on December 5, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images) Saints to bring back Teddy Bridgewater: Grade, reaction, analysis by Brad Berreman Green Bay Packers sign
With the trade deadline in the rearview, buyout moves made and rosters largely solidified, the contours of the NBA landscape are more defined than ever and the terms of engagement for the home stretch of the NBA season are largely set. Still, so much remains up in the air, and thus fascinating to monitor as
For years, Jerami Grant has oozed kinetic energy while straddling the line between reckless and resourceful chaos on the court. He is a subdued Tasmanian Devil and one whose gradually expanding offensive game felt integral to the Oklahoma City Thunder’s ceiling at times. When the franchise cut bait with Carmelo Anthony this summer, Grant became
With 25 games remaining in their season, the Oklahoma City Thunder are 37-20 and sitting in third place in the Western Conference. Their plus-5.2 point differential is the fifth-best mark in the NBA, and with a pace adjustment, it ranks tied for fourth. They even look the part of a contender, with an elite defense
Last week, the NBA’s trade deadline finally came and went — along with plenty of worthwhile fireworks of their own — and buyout season is officially in full swing. But as franchises continue bolstering their roster ahead of the postseason (or lottery-bound future efforts), another deadline occurred recently without much fanfare. In January, the cutoff
As ever, Russell Westbrook has taken it upon himself to be the yang to his own ying for the Oklahoma City Thunder this season. Even as a rejuvenated, re-signed Paul George has emerged as a borderline MVP candidate, leading the NBA’s best defense without its own best wing defender, Westbrook remains at the center of the
Back by the popular demand of pretty much only myself, it’s the second annual edition of Around the NBA in 15 Trades. We’re taking all 30 teams in the lead up to the Feb. 7 trade deadline and finding a happy middle ground for prosperous barterdom. Usually, the trade deadline brings deals between contenders and teams
Ever since he came into this league, Brandon Ingram has had ginormous and arguably unfair expectations. Being selected second overall in what was believed to be a two-man draft is one thing. Being selected by one of the league’s most storied franchises along with that is another. Those two combined is sure to generate a
A family sketch done in naïveté is all Crayola expressions and broccoli trees. Maybe there’s a dog. Probably there’s a sun in the top right corner. The rainbow wax explosion is all families just as easily as it is no family at all. The family in the flesh will neither grow toward or away from
After re-signing Paul George this summer, the Oklahoma City Thunder are off to a rough start thanks to another knee surgery for Russell Westbrook. The Thunder announced Wednesday morning that superstar guard Russell Westbrook had undergone a “maintenance” procedure on his right knee, which the team also described as preemptive. Oklahoma City set a four-week
These Oklahoma City Thunder only know life with Russell Westbrook. Now they might need to learn it without him. Since Kevin Durant left Russell Westbrook and the Oklahoma City Thunder back in 2016, the Thunder have played a grand total of three games without their dynamic, fierce point guard across two regular and postseasons. All
The Oklahoma City Thunder, one of the NBA’s most stable franchises, got another one right this week when they picked up coach Billy Donovan’s contract option for the 2019-20 season. It’s easy to blame coaches in the NBA no matter the stakes. The best teams cast aside the coaches who built them into contenders when
Heading into their New Year’s Eve game against the Dallas Mavericks, the Oklahoma City Thunder sit in third place in the Western Conference with a record of 22-13. They’ve actually been a bit unlucky to end up in that position, as the plus-6.1 points per game point differential paints them as a team that should
The atmosphere is buzzing. On one side of the court, bleachers are almost to capacity with roughly 1,200 people in attendance. The other side has been cleared out to welcome multiple bounce houses for the children. It’s Pirate Night. There are foam swords and pirate hats galore. This is the NBA G-League. The Salt Lake
On Thursday, the NBA released the first returns of voting for next month’s All-Star Game. Within the hour, people everywhere — both fans and media members alike — were sharing their thoughts. Of course, this is hardly a new phenomenon and, more often than not, the shakier results end up smoothing out by the final
In most American professional sports, divisions — the grouping of regionally similar teams for the common goal of producing storylines and rivalries that drive narratives and cash flow — have some meaning. In the NFL, for example, division champions, the team who wins the most games that season amongst the grouping of four teams, are
ESPN announced its NBA Christmas Day schedule Wednesday, lined with marquee teams and signature stars. Here’s what you should make your priority among the mistletoe and hot chocolate this winter. 5. Milwaukee Bucks at New York Knicks The NBA, by scheduling this match for its vaunted Christmas-Day slate, is establishing a Mendoza Line of Knicks