Oklahoma City Thunder vs Portland Trail Blazers Prediction: Depleted Thunder can be blown away by Lillard and co

NBA is on and this has been a great season where we have seen the rise of certain teams and the fall of a bunch of others. The Regular Season has been on and this has been a great window where we are moving toward the Midseason. In this Regular Season game, the Oklahoma City Thunder are going to take on the Portland Trail Blazers in a typical Western Conference match-up.

The Thunder enters the affair after defeating the Grizzlies 115:109 as Luguentz Dort scooped up 24 points. This last win curbed a five-game losing streak and the Thunder has been reduced to 18 losses and 12 wins. Although they have lost a bunch, many of their losses have been by single digits which implies that the squad has been fielding a competitive squad. The Thunder has undergone two major changes from last season but their team’s heartbeat is still Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

The Thunder is 11th in the offensive rating, which is a HUGE uptick from last season when the team was dead-last in that category. Meanwhile, their defensive rating which is in the middle last season has fallen a bit and they have given five+ points more on average. Therefore, the team is yet to attain the balance on both ends, but this is to be expected from a squad that shuffles its lineups constantly and has rookies/sophomores/third-years playing big minutes. The Thunder has a long way to go as a complete unit but coach Mark Daigneault has something special to work with.

The Trail Blazers marches into the affair after defeating the Houston Rockets 107:95 as Anfernee Simons rose up for a 32 points night. They have won six of their last eight games and are back on track with 17 wins and 13 losses. They lost their way in the middle without Lillard, and when he is gone, they aren’t even a 40% win but since he has been back, the Trail Blazers are reaping the fruits of having three 20+ points scorers and this is the most effective their attack has looked after a long time.

The major strength for the Trail Blazers has been their three-point efficiency and they are shooting close to 39% from there and have the best percentage, which is a big change from last season. While their defense has improved, there is still some way to go, and having Jerami Grant and Josh Hart has been a big boost to get both hustle and muscle. The Trail Blazers remain largely dependent upon Lillard but the growth of Anfernee Simons and Jerami Grant means that they are building depth. Coach Billups is an early candidate for Coach of the Year(in my opinion of course) but then there is a long way to go.

• Thunder: OUT: Chet Holmgren, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Josh Giddey, Darius Bazley, Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, Ousmane Dieng;
• Trail Blazers: OUT: Nasir Little, Gary Payton II. QUESTIONABLE: Jerami Grant, Jusuf Nurkic. PROBABLE: Josh Hart.

• Expected Leading Scorers: Damian Lillard(28-35 Points), Anfernee Simons(22-27 Points);
• Expected Leading Playmakers: Damian Lillard(8-11 Assists).

Without Shai, what chance can the Thunder stand against a revved-up Portland unit? With Lillard and Simons in backcourt, they can take control early and even some average defense can lift them. The injury woes decimate Thunder’s home-court advantage because they will also be without their second-best player Josh GIddey, which means that the load will shift upon the inconsistent shoulders of Lu Dort. I believe the Trail Blazers will take advantage of this scenario and nab a big win here. I predict a scoreline of 125:104 in favor of Portland.