Russell Westbrook was long gone before the final horn sounded on Tuesday night.
So was one of the longest running basketball debates in this city.
Both were chased off by Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum.
The Thunder’s All-Star guard fled the bench with 10 seconds left on the game clock, ducked out through the tunnel, and took a hard left turn, seemingly toward Oklahoma City.
Portland whipped the Thunder, 114-94.
The Blazers lead the best-of-seven series 2-0. By the time Moda Center public-address announcer Mark Mason cried out with his customary, “BLAZERS WIN! BLAAAAZZERS WIN!” Westbrook was already more than 50 yards from the wreckage.
Have Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum out-played Westbrook and Paul George in this series?
The Blazer guards provided indisputable evidence in a 72-hour stretch of basketball that feels as important as anything that’s happened around here in some time.
Count me among those who has long believed the best chance Portland had to improve its roster was break up Lillard and McCollum. They’re undersized as a tandem. There’s some duplication in their games. I’ve never been sold on their collective ability to defend other high-level NBA backcourts.
But man, they shot that theory full of holes in Game 2, didn’t they?
Lillard and McCollum have been the best two players on the court in this series. They were aggressive in Game 2, wore out the nets, and have not only frustrated Westbrook and George, but made me wonder if OKC will win another game this season.
Lillard scored 29 on Tuesday -- step-back threes, long threes, mid-range twos, drives, floaters -- everything went in. Everything. After making a 31-foot dagger mid-way through third quarter, the Blazers guard flapped his wings like a bird as he headed toward the bench.
All McCollum did was score 33 points on 22 shots. And the collective effort of Lillard and McCollum not only buried Oklahoma City, it has backed Westbrook’s team toward a warm corner of playoff hell in front of Friday’s Game 3.
Blazers coach Terry Stotts was asked after the game about the long-ranging Lillard-McCollum divorce debate. Should the Portland backcourt be split up? Should one of the offensive-minded guards traded away? If so, which one?
I’ve weighed that debate often, coach. So have some of the franchise’s die-hard fans. After a couple of postseason sweeps, absolutely, that became a thing. It still might be if you don’t win this series.
We wondered if trading McCollum for a dynamic front-court player would better balance the roster. We wondered if there might be a more suitable complementary player to Lillard available. We wondered if the Portland duo would ever win a playoff game again together, for crying out loud.
Oklahoma City hasn’t been able to match them.
Lillard and McCollum are outplaying their Thunder counterparts through two games. They haven’t officially ended what amounts to a long-running basketball debate in this city, but they’re not-so-quietly moving in that direction.
This playoff series has been a stark contrast to a year ago, when New Orleans guards Rajon Rondo and Jrue Holiday suffocated the Blazers backcourt.
The Thunder were supposed to be the aggressors in this series, remember?
They’re playing at full strength. They have not one, but two All-Star players. They also have center Steven Adams, who stomps around on the basketball court, building fires, and swinging a battle axe like he’s auditioning for a role in Game of Thrones.
George was a no-show in Game 1. And Westbrook played his worst game of the season against the Blazers in Game 2, scoring only 14 points. Meanwhile, Adams’ most noticeable on-court act on Tuesday was jawing with Lillard.
If this pattern repeats just twice more against the Thunder, Portland is going to find itself in the second round.
Said Westbrook: “Tonight, we lost, and I’m going to take full responsibility for that because the way I played was unacceptable and I’m going to be better.
The Thunder swept the four-game regular-season series with Portland. But Oklahoma City coach Billy Donovan explained after the loss that one of the regular season games went to overtime, and another was decided on a final possession.
But that just sounds like a serious case of denial when cast against Tuesday’s back-alley whipping.
No, something isn’t right with the Thunder -- Westbrook and George. And something is very much right with the Blazers -- Lillard and McCollum.
The 20-point margin of defeat was Oklahoma City’s second-worst loss of the season. On March 16, Golden State beat the Thunder by 22.
A lot is going to be made about Oklahoma City’s inability to make three-point shots in the last few days. As if they’re losing a game of H-O-R-S-E. But let’s address the very real possibility that the Blazers aren’t just better shot-makers so far, but also that they’re doing some things to disrupt the Thunder.
Lillard in particular, as he had three of Portland’s nine steals.
The Thunder were 5 of 33 from behind the arc on Sunday. They followed that with a 5 for 28 effort in Game 2.
Don’t dismiss that like it’s some kind of happenstance.
In 82 regular-season games Oklahoma City never shot below 21.2 percent from three. It never happened. All season. In any game. But in successive playoff games, playing against Portland’s “undersized, no-defense, Blazers backcourt" the Thunder shot 15.1 percent, and then, 17.9 percent from behind the arc.
“We have to keep shooting,” George said. “We’re going to make shots. Keep shooting. We miss shots, so what? Keep shooting."
That’s the plan. Will it work? We’ll see.
But this series now heads to Oklahoma City with the Blazers slapping backs, and feeling so much better about who they are. Blazers fans are right there with them. And this happened because Lillard and McCollum have outclassed their star counterparts so far in this series.
So many questions still. Most of them, for the Thunder now. But Lillard was asked how it felt to be up two-zip after the playoff face-plants of the last couple of postseasons.