Blazers roll into Minnesota after 62-point loss to Thunder
The Portland Trail Blazers scored 77 points and lost by 62 points (139-77) to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday night and their reward for the confidence-crushing performance is a date against the best defensive team in the NBA Friday night in Minnesota.
The 62-point drubbing is tied for the fifth-largest margin of loss in NBA history.
The Timberwolves and Thunder are now tied at 26-11 for the top spot in the Western Conference while the Blazers (10-27) sit 14th out of 15 teams in the West.
Portland shot just 27.7% as a team an an ugly 11 of 49 from 3-point range (22.4%). The worst offenders were rookie Scoot Henderson (4-of-21 shooting) and second year guard Shaedon Sharpe (3-of-14 shooting in 21 minutes off the bench).
Take away a 4-of-8 performance from 3 by Anfernee Simons and the rest of the Blazers were a combined 7 of 41 (17.0%) from deep.
Since the calendar flipped to 2024 the Blazers are 1-5 and in their losses they've been outscored by 21, 29, 36, 28 and 62 points, respectively. That's 176 points, or an average of 35.2 points per game.
That said, Friday night in Minneapolis will be Portland's seventh opportunity to play games on consecutive days and they're 4-2 on the second night of back to backs so far this season.
Jan 11, 2024; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA; Portland Trail Blazers guard Shaedon Sharpe (17) reacts after a play against the Oklahoma City Thunder during the second quarter at Paycom Center.
Credit: Alonzo Adams-USA TODAY Sports
