The Portland Trail Blazers’ 48-point blowout victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Saturday paved the way for the regular starters to rest and the reservers to get an extended run in the second half. Harry Giles, Nassir Little, Anfernee Simons and CJ Elleby all surpassed the 15-minute threshold in the win.
After the game, NBC Sports Northwest’s Jamie Hudson highlighted coach Terry Stotts’ comments about the late-game contributions from the bench. Stotts made it a point to mention the defensive effort that unfolded.
“We’ve had games, not many, but we’ve had some games where that group would come in and give up a lot of points and so I was most pleased with what they did as a group defensively and maintaining the margin that we had.