The Portland Trail Blazers defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder 118-108 at the Moda Center on Wednesday night, improving to 8-3 on the NBA season and moving into fourth place in the Western Conference. Now, it\u2019s time for Sports Rabbi to grade Deni Avdija\u2019s performance.<\/p>\n
Avdija\u2019s Statistics:<\/strong> 34:39 minutes, 28 points (tied for his season high), 5-of-7 from two-point range, 4-of-13 from three-point range (a career high in three-point attempts), 6-of-6 from the free-throw line, 3 rebounds, 6 assists, 5 turnovers, 4 steals, 2 blocks, 4 fouls and a +10 plus\/minus (the highest on the floor).<\/p>\n Avdija\u2019s Grade \u2013 9.5<\/strong> The Blazers opened the second half by extending their lead to double digits, but Oklahoma City fought its way back into the game and chipped away at the deficit, with Avdija picking up a couple of offensive fouls along the way. The Thunder took the lead early in the fourth quarter, and Avdija took a hit from Jared McCain before landing hard on his back. However, he was able to stay in the game and continued to play exceptionally well. Most importantly, Avdija buried a three-pointer to give Portland a six-point lead in crunch time, then capped things off with a dunk following a steal to help secure a second consecutive home victory over Oklahoma City in the span of just 24 hours.<\/p>\n This was an outstanding performance from Avdija. He tied his season high in points, set a new career high in three-point attempts and matched his career high in steals. He showcased his ability to drive to the basket, dished out assists to open shooters, and committed some turnovers, several of which came as a result of offensive fouls. Unlike some of his recent performances, he was also perfect from the free-throw line.<\/p>\n There is no question that this was a statement win, with Portland and Avdija taking down the powerhouse Thunder without injured Ja Morant on back-to-back nights. Admittedly, Oklahoma City is currently without injured Chet Holmgren, but the Thunder still have Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who scored 31 points despite going 0-for-7 from beyond the arc.<\/p>\n Portland’s next game will be on the road against the Sacramento Kings early Saturday morning (5:00 a.m. Israel time) as part of the NBA Cup.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Portland Trail Blazers defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder 118-108 at the Moda Center on Wednesday night, improving to 8-3 on the NBA season and moving into fourth place in the Western Conference. Now, it\u2019s time for Sports Rabbi to grade Deni Avdija\u2019s performance. Avdija\u2019s Statistics: 34:39 minutes, 28 points (tied for his season high), […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":196506,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4074],"tags":[37],"class_list":["post-196512","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-jews-in-sports","tag-deni-avdija","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nAvdija took plenty of shots from beyond the arc early on and after knocking down his second three-pointer, he missed his next three attempts as Portland struggled to get off to a good start. He began finding his points inside in the second quarter, and the Trail Blazers started taking control of the game with an 8-24 run. After building a nine-point lead, Portland headed into halftime with a 56-50 advantage.<\/p>\n