Portland succumbs to OKC in OT

02/06/12

Written by: KevinHudson

The Portland Trail Blazers lost in overtime Monday, 111-107, to the Oklahoma City Thunder in front of 20,559 at the Rose Garden.

Portland (14-11) came back after trailing by 12 points, 85-73, late in the third quarter, making a 6-0 run over the final minute of the quarter to enter the final period down by six points, 85-79.

From there, the Trail Blazers fought back to tie the game for the first time in the second half, 93-93, with seven minutes remaining, and would go on to take a 101-95 lead with just more than two minutes left to play.

A Kevin Durant three-pointer and 3-of-4 free throws from Russell Westbrook tied the game again at 101-101, then Jamal Crawford's mid-range jumper recaptured the lead for Portland with less than a minute remaining.

On the ensuing Thunder possession a series of three offensive rebounds by the visitors culminated in a Durant driving layup attempt that was blocked by LaMarcus Aldridge but ruled a goaltend that tied the game with six seconds left on the clock.

"I didn’t think it was a goaltend. I thought it was a good block, that game should have been over," McMillan said. "They didn’t call it that way and you have to go out and play and go into overtime.We’ve got to make plays down the stretch regardless of that call."

"It doesn't really matter now," Aldridge said when asked if he thought the block was clean. "They made shots in overtime and we didn't, and they got some calls their way and they won the game."

In overtime, the Trail Blazers mustered just four points on two Aldridge free throws and a Crawford jumper while the Thunder pulled away for the final margin.

"It’s tough. We definitely played well enough to win this game," Aldridge said. "We had some tough calls and then we had some bad bounces late in the game. We have to learn from it. We played good basketball tonight. We just have to learn from it."

Aldridge led all scorers with 39 points on 14-28 shooting, though he missed his last six shots from the floor. Wesley Matthews was next with 18 points on 6-of-9 shooting, followed by Jamal Crawford with 17 points, five assists and Nicolas Batum with 13 points and three steals.

Marcus Camby grabbed a game-high 15 rebounds, eclipsing 15 boards for the fifth time this season, all in his last eight outings, but the Trail Blazers were outrebounded by the Thunder 59-39 as three Oklahoma City players had double-digit rebounding nights.

Oklahoma City (19-5) was led by Durant with 33 points, followed by westbrook with 28 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists. Serge Ibaka also tallied a double-double, leading the Thunder with 13 rebounds while scoring 12 points.

Kendrick Perkins grabbed 10 boards and James Harden pitched in 19 points off the Thunder bench.

Portland wraps up its current homestand against the Houston Rockets Wednesday, 7 p.m., at the Rose Garden. The game can be seen locally on Comcast SportsNet (Comcast channel 37). 750 AM The Game and NBA Audio League Pass will have the play-by-play call.

Tags: NateMcMillan, JamalCrawford, LaMarcusAldridge, NicolasBatum, WesleyMatthews, kevindurant, russellwestbrook, sergeibaka, kendrickperkins, MarcusCamby, jamesharden

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