Oklahoma City Thunder: 5 keys to series vs. Trail Blazers
By Nick Crain
The 2019 NBA Playoffs are finally here, and The Oklahoma City Thunder will match up against the Portland Trail Blazers in the round one. Here are 5 keys to the Thunder making it to the second round.
The Oklahoma City Thunder have once again had a successful regular season, earning themselves the number six seed in the Western Conference of the 2019 NBA Playoffs. This will be their ninth playoff appearance in the past 10 seasons.
Coming into the 2018-19 season, Portland had a streak of six regular season wins against Oklahoma City, dating back to 2017. However, this season the Thunder won all four of the matchups between these two teams.
Although Oklahoma City swept Portland in the regular season, all four games were extremely close. The first matchup of the season resulted in just a two-point victory, followed by the next two both being nine-point wins.
In the regular season finale, it took an overtime game for the Thunder to pull off the season sweep.
The Trail Blazers acquired Rodney Hood at the trade deadline, who is currently their fifth-leading scorer and will look to be a difference maker for them in the playoffs.
In late March, Portland big man Jusuf Nurkic went down for the season with a gruesome leg injury, meaning he will be unavailable during this series. This will result in former Thunder player Enes Kanter getting the start at center and playing more minutes than anticipated.
Oklahoma City is riding a five-game win streak heading into the playoffs. With the regular season behind us, let’s dive into five things the Oklahoma City Thunder need to do win this series.