The Thunder dropped a division matchup at home on Tuesday against the Portland Trail Blazers, getting outscored coming out of the locker room after halftime and were unable to close the gap. They did a good job limiting the ball movement for Portland in the first half, holding them to four assists, but Portland also was making a point to isolate the Thunder’s weakest defender on the court to help mitigate the risk of passing the ball against the athletic Thunder defense. Westbrook nearly had a triple-double, but he missed 13 of his 20 field goal attempts as the team shot just 44 percent from the field. Westbrook had a MVP-level stat line against the Timberwolves on Wednesday, with 38 points and 10 rebounds, but the Thunder lost, 104-88, in a game where their role players couldn’t execute at a level that would result in success. The loss meant they dropped the season series with Minnesota, 1-3, which could play a role in playoff seeding later on.
The Thunder snapped their three-game losing streak with a 101-91 victory over the Charlotte Hornets, with Westbrook scoring 25 points to lead the team to a Sunday win. The Thunder’s reserves got them the lead early in the fourth quarter, and the starters made sure they wouldn’t push that losing streak to four games.