The Thunder will be looking to sweep the season series against the Portland Trail Blazers for the first time since the 2012-13 season Thursday night in the teams’ final meeting of the year.
Oklahoma City has won each of the three previous meetings. The Thunder even snapped an eight-game losing streak in Portland on Jan. 4 after failing to beat the Trail Blazers on the road since 2014.
As division rivals, the Thunder haven’t had much success against the Trail Blazers prior to this year but the team appears to be figuring out Damian Lillard & Co. this season.
The two teams have had a few on-court battles this season, so Thursday’s matchup figures to be entertaining. Given how the season series has gone, we decided to take a look at some of the heated moments from the season.
“He can rock right back to Portland.”
The second meeting of the season on Jan. 22 proved to be quite dramatic.
Paul George led the Thunder to a 123-114 victory over the Trail Blazers with 36 points while Russell Westbrook scored 29.
During the game, though, Trail Blazers guard Evan Turner tried turning the tables on Westbrook by busting out Westbrook’s patented “Rock-a-bye Baby” move against Westbrook.
Westbrook claimed he didn’t see it but had a great response.
“I didn’t even see it, honestly,” Westbrook said. “He can rock right back to Portland.”
Afterward, Turner doubled-down on his move.
Russ is amazing at a lot of things, triple-double, all that stuff. But I posted him up. I scored on him. Did I know he was going to have a triple-double? No. But did I know if he posted up a smaller defender what that means? Yeah, I did, and that’s what happened. So, deal with it.
Turner finished that game with four points.
“I ain’t talking about this clown.”
During that same Jan. 22 meeting, Russell Westbrook had some words for Trail Blazers center Jusuf Nurkic.
In his postgame media availability, Westbrook was asked about fighting over screens set by Nurkic. He passed on the question and then appeared to add: “I ain’t talking about this clown.”
The video clip quickly went viral on Twitter and eventually made its way to Nurkic, who issued a response that garnered quite a bit of attention.
As previously mentioned, Westbrook finished that game with 29 points, 14 assists and 10 rebounds on 9-of-20 shooting from the field. He also went 10-of-12 from the line for one of his best shooting nights of the season.
The “Westbrick” criticism may not have applied in that game.
“I’ve been busting that [expletive] for years!”
Then, there was the incident between Russell Westbrook and Damian Lillard.
In the closing minutes of the Jan. 22 game, and with Lillard at the free-throw line, Westbrook is seen yelling at Lillard in between shot attempts and it appears that Westbrook is telling Lillard he has “been busting that [expletive] for years.”
Westbrook may have a point, though. His 25.8 points against Portland are the third-most against any opponent, behind only the New York Knicks and Phoenix Suns, according to Basketball-Reference.
The battles between Westbrook and Lillard over the years have been quite a scene, but the trash-talk between the two players on that night may have been the first of its kind, even after all of these years playing each other.
Lillard spoke about the rivalry after that game, as recounted by Jason Quick of The Athletic.
I see him and I see how he is almost angry toward other people. So I take that same energy with him. I don’t speak to him before the game. I don’t shake hands. I don’t do none of that. I’m like, ‘It is going to be what it is going to be.’ That’s my approach.
We’ll see if the two have anything for each other on Thursday.
Another “Rock-a-bye Baby” Celebration
Russell Westbrook broke out his “Rock-a-bye Baby” move against C.J. McCollum. The celebration came on Feb. 11, the next game in the series after Evan Turner used it.
With the Thunder up by 14 points in the second quarter, Westbrook caught the ball in the post, took a few dribbles, turned and fired it over McCollum.
Based on the history of the two teams, it seems like a safe bet to assume Westbrook may break this one out again Thursday night.
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As division rivals, these two teams have become quite familiar with each other over the years and there is likely no love lost as a result.
While players like Lillard and Westbrook have been complimentary of each other, like the time Lillard called Paul George the MVP, once the two teams take the court, all bets are off.
The Trail Blazers are favored to win against the Thunder on Thursday.
