Portland Trail Blazers Fight But Fall to Oklahoma City Thunder 123-115

History has a habit of repeating itself, a process guaranteed to occur in the Moda Center today: either the Portland Trail Blazers were going to vanquish the Oklahoma City Thunder for the second time this season, or their vaunted visitors were going to be the ones with the instant replay.

Despite a spirited effort from the home team, the Thunder prevailed, clawing out a 123-115 verdict behind 26 lightning strikes from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Deni Avdija got a triple double with 31 points, 19 (!) boards, and 10 dimes, leading the Blazers in scoring, but that was nowhere near enough to keep the defending NBA champions from logging their league-leading 12th consecutive triumph.

Deni Avdija was a perpetual motion machine again today, doing a lot of everything en route to his fourth career triple double. And this was not a walk in the park – OKC gave nothing up easily.

It’s not always the numbers you end up with, it’s when you get them. The Blazers battled just about even all over the place, getting the edge on free throws 29 to 25 and three-pointers 16 to 10, but points scored in the fourth quarter turned out to be Blazers 28, Thunder 38. That was your ballgame.

Hard to miss that the Blazers opened the first and third quarters without a center on the floor, due in large part to Donovan Clingan dealing with illness. How did that go? Well, it appeared to buy some time: the Blazers were a +2 with that lineup on the floor through the first three quarters. Centers Robert Williams III, Duop Reath, and Yang Hansen ultimately got in on the action, with Williams definitely making his presence felt via 7 points, 9 rebounds, and high-impact defense.

This game also saw a ridiculous 15 lead changes and a whopping 22 ties, telling the story of a plucky and short-handed Blazers team doing almost enough to eke out a win against one of the best teams the NBA has seen in a generation.

The Blazers are back in action Tuesday in Toronto, the first stop on another pivotal five-game road trip. The rendezvous with the Raptors begins at 3pm Pacific.