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

The Portland Trail Blazers fell short to the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 3 Friday night. Here are some takeaways from the runaway loss.

The Oklahoma City Thunder thwarted the Portland Trail Blazers‘ plans for a revenge sweep on Friday night. OKC upended the Blazers 120-108 in Game 3 of the first round series, but Portland still maintains a 2-1 series lead.

The flow of this game was all over the place. There were six ties and 10 lead changes through the opening 20 minutes of the first half. From there, Oklahoma City kicked off a 28-12 run to go up by 16 points with 9:27 left in the third quarter. Portland pushed back, using a big quarter from Damian Lillard to eventually tie the game at 89 with 10:41 left in the fourth. Ultimately, the Thunder would pull away for the crucial win.

Lillard finished the night with 32 points, six assists, four rebounds and two steals. CJ McCollum chipped in 21 points, seven rebounds and seven assists. Enes Kanter also came through with 19 points and five boards.

Russell Westbrook led Oklahoma City with 33 points, 11 assists and five rebounds. Paul George came away with 22 points despite going 3-for-16 from the field. This can be explained by his 14-of-17 performance at the free throw line. Jerami Grant had 18 points and shot 4-of-5 from 3-point range, while Dennis Schroder had 17 points, six assists, five rebounds and two steals off the bench.

The third time wasn’t the charm for the Trail Blazers on Friday night. What are a few things we can take away from Portland’s Game 3 loss?