Portland Trail Blazers: 3 takeaways from Game 1 vs. Thunder

3. 3-point shooting made the difference

The stakes are always high in the NBA playoffs. Matchups tend to be fairly even, and the margin for error is slim. A single advantage over the competition tends to be the determining factor in most games throughout a series. On Sunday afternoon, Portland’s biggest advantage was from beyond the arc.

Oklahoma City held the upper hand in stat categories such as rebounds, assists, steals, turnovers, free throw percentage, points in the paint, second chance points, fast break points and bench scoring. From 3-point range, however, Portland went 11-of-25 (44.0 percent) while OKC shot a historically dreadful 5-of-33 (15.2 percent).

Damian Lillard conceded postgame that the Thunder’s perimeter woes had less to do with anything the Blazers did defensively. Still, it’s better to force Oklahoma City — a team that finished 22nd in 3-point percentage — to stay outside than to let them attack the paint. In Game 2, the focus will likely be to chase their best marksmen like George off the line while turning slashers like Westbrook into jump-shooters.