Oklahoma City Thunder coach Mark Daigneault wasn’t overly concerned about his team’s sluggish defensive start after the All-Star break.
But heading into the Thunder’s Friday home game against the Portland Trail Blazers, Daigneault hopes his side can sustain the defensive momentum it built in Wednesday’s win at Memphis.
“Some of it was shooting variance,” Daigneault said of OKC’s defensive struggles before that 120-103 victory. “I mean, these other teams were banging shots in in an uncharacteristic way in terms of what we would expect. But I didn’t think our energy level and juice was quite to the level that it’s been for much of the season.”
Daigneault felt like his team turned a corner against the Grizzlies.
Now, Oklahoma City is looking to keep the momentum going at that end of the floor.
“We’ve been talking about it,” Luguentz Dort, one of the Thunder’s top defenders, told The Oklahoman. “(The) All-Star break was a break. Everybody felt good about themselves. Went out, got some time off, and it just happened like that (where) it took us a couple games to get the car back on the road.”
Oklahoma City has won five consecutive games and 14 of its last 16. Since the break, the Thunder are 7-1 and have averaged nearly 132 points per game during that stretch.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the NBA’s scoring leader this season, has scored a combined 92 points over the last two games, but he will sit out Friday’s game for rest. It’ll be just the second game Gilgeous-Alexander has missed this season.
Oklahoma City will also be without Dort (right knee soreness), Jalen Williams (right wrist sprain) and Isaiah Hartenstein (nasal fracture) as they come off what Daigneault said was the Thunder’s toughest stretch on the schedule in several seasons.
Chet Holmgren is listed as questionable after missing Wednesday’s win.
Friday’s game is the last of a season-long seven-game road trip for Portland, which has gone 4-2 so far during the stretch.
But the Blazers have dropped two of their last three, including Wednesday’s 128-118 loss in Boston.
With a series of injuries, Portland has had to switch things around a bit recently.
“We’re playing a lot of lineups and combinations that we don’t usually play,” Blazers coach Chauncey Billups said. “So it’s the first time for some of these combinations.”
One of those faces fitting into a different role is third-year forward Jabari Walker.
Walker played a season-high 30 minutes against the Celtics, scoring a season-high 22 points with a career-high six 3-pointers.
The Blazers’ Deni Avdija left Wednesday’s loss in the fourth quarter after reaggravating a quad injury that kept him out of a game last week.
Deandre Ayton (calf), Jerami Grant (knee) and Robert Williams (knee) have all been out recently for Portland.
The Thunder have won 15 consecutive games against the Blazers, with Portland’s last victory in the series coming in April 2021.
Friday is the fourth and final meeting between the teams this season.
–Field Level Media
