OKC defeats Portland on the road and maintains its undefeated record

To maintain their undefeated streak, the OKC Thunder defeated the Portland Trailblazers with a final score of 137-14. With the hard-fought road win, OKC improved to 5-0, while Portland fell to 2-3.

OKC's final result relied on the performances of forward Jalen Williams and guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, with Williams scoring 22 points on 8-for-12 shooting and Gilgeous-Alexander scoring 30 points on 12-for-18 shooting.

Gilgeous-Alexander, Williams and forward Chet Holmgren helped the Thunder take a quick lead, giving the match the appearance of a bust. That wouldn't be the case, but the fast start for OKC certainly helped.

The first quarter went as well as possible for OKC and ended up leading 37:24. With 9:32 left in the second quarter, it looked like OKC would escape with a 44-29 lead. Gilgeous-Alexander and OKC's bench strength scored efficiently on offense and limited Portland's options with its defense. The Trailblazers flipped a switch midway through the quarter, led by center DeAndre Ayton, forward Deni Avdija and guard Anfernee Simons.

Portland's trio brought the game to within three points late in the quarter and took the lead thanks to a hat-trick from second-year guard Scoot Henderson. He didn't have his best game of the early season, finishing the game with just eight points due to inefficient 3-for-8 shooting. The former second overall pick now comes off the bench for Portland and is looking to reclaim his role as a starter.

The two battled back and forth for most of the third quarter and OKC kept trying to pull away but couldn't. OKC's defense, arguably the best in the NBA at the start of the new season, struggled utterly to stop Portland's scorers in this third quarter. The Trailblazers are loaded with talented isolation scorers and made that clear in the third quarter thanks to players like Simons and forward Jerami Grant.

Two-point shots from forward Lu Dort and guard Aaron Wiggins finally gave OKC a lead and led 87-78 with 4:15 left. From that point on, the Thunder began to step up their game on offense to extend their lead. They scored 19 points in the final four minutes of the quarter to increase their lead to 21 points, preventing Portland from regaining the game.

In classic blowout fashion, OKC had to clear its bench in the fourth quarter. Isaiah Joe and Cason Wallace became the two leaders on the court and continued to extend the lead with the help of rookie guard Ajay Mitchell and forward Ousmane Dieng.

Recent recruit Malevy Leons, former Bradley Brave, made his first appearance of the regular season toward the end of the quarter. He finished the game with just one rebound and one assist in two minutes while still gaining valuable experience.

Another OKC rookie, forward Dillon Jones, failed against Portland. He struggled to make the most of it in the Thunder's first four games, scoring five points and two points on 2-for-3 shooting.

Leading Portland was Grant, who scored 17 points on 5-for-11 shooting. French defenseman Rayan Rupert, who came off the bench for Portland, scored 14 points on 5-for-8 shooting in just 20 minutes of play.

After improving to 5-0 on the season, OKC will play the Los Angeles Clippers at the Intuit Dome on Saturday, November 2nd at 9:30 PM PDT.

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