The Oklahoma City Thunder have dominated the Trail Blazers in recent seasons and look to continue the mastery Tuesday night in the first of two games in two nights in Portland.
The Thunder went 3-1 against Portland last season and have won 19 of the past 20 meetings. The Trail Blazers overcame a 22-point deficit for that victory, a 121-119 home decision on Nov. 5, 2025.
Oklahoma City prevailed in 16 consecutive meetings before blowing that big lead on a night in which Portland took its first lead with under seven minutes left in the game.
The Thunder have won eight of 10 games to start this season, including the last four. They open a four-game trip with the two games in Portland.
Oklahoma City won each of its last two contests by more than 30 points. The Thunder routed the host Memphis Grizzlies 128-97 on Friday before rolling to a 114-75 home victory over the Washington Wizards on Saturday.
Thunder coach Mark Daigneault was impressed that his team held Washington to 29.6% shooting, including 7 of 43 (16.3%) from 3-point range.
“The intensity on that end of the floor, including the fourth quarter, was really solid,” Daigneault said. “I thought we went out and earned a win. That’s a 0-0 game at the beginning and the guys went out and got it.”
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had 30 points and nine assists in just 29 minutes against the Wizards. Jared McCain added 19 points on 8-of-10 shooting off the bench and rookie big man Aday Mara had 18 points on 8-of-10 shooting.
Mara, the No. 12 overall draft pick, was in the starting lineup with Chet Holmgren (knee) sidelined. He sank his first career 3-point attempt and also had eight rebounds, three assists and three blocked shots on Saturday.
“Aday’s done a great job. He’s been really consistent,” Daigneault said. “He’s played impactful minutes every single night, which is hard to do for a rookie player, especially at that position. It’s a hard position.”
Portland won six of its first seven games of the season but dropped a weekend back-to-back.
The Trail Blazers fell 124-118 on the road to the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday and then were pounded at home Saturday 125-103 by the San Antonio Spurs. Portland trailed by as many as 35.
“If you want to find an excuse, you can find an excuse,” Trail Blazers coach Micah Nori said. “But it’s a big boy league. They’re on a back-to-back. We’re on a back-to-back. These are going to happen. … We got to make sure we compete and be who we are.
“And (Saturday night), I thought was the first time that we kind of got away from that.”
San Antonio scored 42 points in the second quarter and 45 in the third while whipping Portland. Victor Wembanyama scored 29 points while playing just three quarters.
Nori was asked if his team received a slice of humble pie and he wasn’t pleased with the question.
“I don’t know what humble pie means from the fact that we’ve played really good basketball, we were 6-2 and there’s not one person on our team that was thinking all of a sudden we’re world-beaters and all this,” Nori said. “I think we’ve been going about our business, taking care of business on the road, and the last thing I would think about this is humble pie.
“I think that they’re a very good team. They’re defending Western Conference champions, and they beat us. But to me, humble pie is when you’re walking around thinking that you can beat anybody, and you’re not putting the work in and just think that you’re gonna show up and win.”
Deni Avdija scored a season-low 15 points on Saturday.
