OKLAHOMA CITY — After enduring all the ranting and raving and wrist-tapping at the end of a contentious Game 3 defeat, the Portland Trail Blazers experienced something different altogether Sunday night at Chesapeake Energy Arena.
Silence.
The majority of the Oklahoma City Thunder fans had flooded the exits with 47.7 seconds left. Russell Westbrook, the trash-talking, baby-rocking enigma, left the Thunder bench with about 15 seconds left. And Dennis Schroder, the wrist-tapping, in-your-face sixth man, lounged at the end of the bench, lost in thought.
The Blazers defeated the Thunder 111-98 in Game 4 of the first round of the Western Conference playoffs, seizing a commanding 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series, and the late-game antics of the previous matchup were as conspicuously absent as Westbrook’s erratic jumper.
“I didn’t hear nothing in the second half,” Moe Harkless said, grinning. “Like I said, they’re a good team, but sometimes they get a little carried away with the talking. And tonight was a good day for us to just shut them up."
The Blazers muzzled the Thunder with a mix of moxie, defense, timely shot-making and purpose.
As has been the case throughout this one-sided series, the Blazers’ stars were more clutch and consistent, their depth more dependable and their motivation more transparent.
Damian Lillard, who entered the day leading the NBA in playoff scoring (30.3 points per game), continued to own his All-Star counterpart Westbrook, finishing with 24 points and eight assists. CJ McCollum hit big shot after big shot in the second half en route to a 27-point night that was fueled by 10-of-20 shooting, including 5 of 9 from three-point range. And oft-maligned starting forwards Al-Farouq Aminu (19 points, nine rebounds, four three-pointers) and Harkless (15 points, 10 rebounds, three blocks, two steals) spearheaded a stingy Blazers’ defense and nailed multiple timely shots.
The Blazers built a 19-point lead in the third quarter, riding another monster post-halftime surge from Lillard, who rebounded from an 0-for-6 start by scoring 15 points and making all three of his three-point attempts in the quarter. Then they stomped on the Thunder’s throats, dismissing every comeback attempt with a McCollum three-pointer or an Aminu rebound-follow or a Harkless layup or a dominant defensive stand. The biggest threat came over the final 3:37 after Schroder swished a three-pointer to trim the Blazers’ lead to 97-87, making things almost interesting.
As the Blazers called timeout to regroup for the stretch run, Guns N’ Roses’ “Welcome to the Jungle” boomed around the arena and 18,203 blue-clad Thunder fans went bananas, grasping at the hope their fading season could be resuscitated.
Instead, it plunged deeper into life support.
Harkless hit a pair of free throws 30 seconds later, McCollum nailed a clutch driving jumper in the lane 33 seconds after that and Lillard tossed a beautiful bullet pass to Harkless under the rim for a layup with 1:18 left. The Blazers led 103-94. On the next play, they practically dared Westbrook to shoot a corner three-pointer and his shot caromed off the rim, sending the Blazers back to Portland in prime position to advance to the second round of the playoffs.
And unlike the Thunder, who, at the end of Game 3, taunted and mocked and dunked their way to a victory, the Blazers were calm and composed as the final seconds ticked off of Game 4. They had decided roughly 48 hours beforehand, in the visiting locker room after Friday’s emotional loss, that they would not respond with similar antics and trash-talking. They would not harp on the officials. They would not taunt Oklahoma City. They would not play into the Thunder’s hands.
“After last game, it was a big deal being made of the back-and-forth,” Lillard said. “And we weren’t emotional about it. We were just competing. We were passionate about the game, as well, but … we didn’t really engage in it, because our focus was our team. We said, like I told you guys, we’re not going to come out here and go crazy on the referees, we’re not going to go out here and get in any shouting matches and back-and-forths and all that stuff. We’re going to focus on the stuff that we need to focus on that’s going to give us a chance to win the game. I was proud of how our team stuck to that.”
In the most important game of the season, It was an important sign of growth for a team that entered the series inundated with talk about two consecutive playoff sweeps and 10 consecutive playoff losses.
"We're a lot more mature than we were in past years," McCollum said. "We can handle adversity. We understood what we wanted to accomplish tonight and we didn't want anything to get in the way. Multiple times we had discussions about not saying anything to anyone. If they don't have a black or gray jersey on, don't talk to him. Talk to our team. Don't talk to the refs, don't talk to the other team. Execute our game plan and let's get out of here with the win."
Westbrook, who was in the middle of all the tomfoolery of Game 3, was oddly quiet Sunday night. He finished with 14 points, nine rebounds and seven assists, and couldn’t hit the side of an Oklahoma wheat barn. Westbrook made just 5 of 21 shots, including 2 of 7 three-pointers, and vanished in the second half, missing all seven of his field goal attempts and scoring just one point, which came with 1:55 left. It was the worst shooting half of Westbrook’s playoff career, according to ESPN Stats & Info.
So while Westbrook and the Thunder‚ who have not won a playoff series since Kevin Durant bolted for Silicon Valley, are inching closer to facing questions about their own playoff failures, the Blazers are one victory away from dismissing their detractors and exorcising a few playoff demons.
“We got swept last year,” McCollum said. “It was really embarrassing and everybody talked about it. It was on TV every day. I went on TV and they talked about us getting swept, talked about me getting traded, talked about how we can’t win together. All that stuff. We remember it and we understand that feeling of going home early. I was able to fly to Europe and see my brother play because the season ended so early. I told him this year, ‘I ain’t going to be able to make it.’”
The Blazers are one game away from backing up McCollum’s promise.
And one game closer to fully shutting up the Thunder.
“We don’t focus on doubters, we focus on ourselves,” Lillard said. “And we accept the responsibility for our last two playoff performances and we moved on. I think that’s one of the biggest and one of the best things that we did for ourselves is not hold on to it. We moved on and we’re having a better run now. We’ve just got to finish it.”
— Joe Freeman | jfreeman@oregonian.com | 503-294-5183 | @BlazerFreeman | Visit subscription.oregonlive.com/newsletters to get Oregonian/OregonLive journalism delivered to your email inbox