Duop Reath turned in his best game for the season on Thursday (all times AEDT) to help Portland hand OKC Thunder the first loss of their championship defence in a thriller.
Plus Jock Landale continues to turn heads with his outside shooting, and it could prompt a playing-time conundrum for his Memphis Grizzlies coaches.
Reath set season-highs across the board in points (12), 3-pointers (four) and minutes (20) as a game-high +21 for a strong cameo off Portland’s bench in the 121-119 upset for OKC’s first loss.
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It was Reath’s best game of the 2025/25 campaign so far, surpassing his season-high 12 minutes against the Utah Jazz last month.
The Aussie big man shot an ultra efficient 4-of-5 from beyond the arc and added two assists in a game that went down to the wire after Portland came back from 22 points down.
Deni Avdija’s near triple-double (26 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists) led the way for the Blazers and Jerami Grant chimed in 20 points with five rebounds and five assists off the bench.
Reath, who had nine points in 12 minutes to half-time, drilled a huge 3-pointer in the dying seconds of the third term as the shot block expired to get Portland back within five points at 86-81.
It helped swing momentum Portland’s way ahead of the home side’s dominant 44-33 final term.
Back-to-back threes to Jrue Holiday and Avdija extended the Blazers’ lead to 115-109 with 2:12 left in the fourth quarter.
Down three with six seconds remaining, the Thunder had two chances to force overtime.
Isaiah Joe missed a 3-pointer in the dying seconds, before OKC secured an offensive rebound and found Joe for another last-gasp three, but the sharpshooter’s was foot on line as he was fouled with 0.5 left.
“This game could be decided, literally, by 2-3 inches. That’s how much Joe had of that foot on the line when he fired off the triple,” Portland commentator Kevin Calabro said.
Joe missed the second free throw intentionally but the Thunder weren’t able to quickly put back another shot to consolidate the Blazers win.
It ended Portland’s 16-game losing streak to the Thunder, who fell to 8-1 as the last NBA team that was undefeated.
OKC, led by Shai Gilgeous Alexander’s game-high 35 points, were missing three starters in Chet Holmgren, Jalen Williams and Lu Dort,
The Blazers improved to 5-3 overall – including 5-2 under interim coach Tiago Splitter — after the arrest of head coach Chauncey Billups last month.
McGee drops 37-PTS in Hawks upset | 01:21
Meanwhile, Landale entered Thursday’s NBA slates the fourth-ranked 3-point shooter by percentage, and he continued to let it fly from the perimeter with success against the Houston Rockets.
Landale, again starting for the Grizzlies in the absence of Zach Edey, scored 11 points on 4-7 shooting and 3-4 from three-point land against the Rockets, his former team, adding three rebounds and a block to his stat-line in 21 minutes.
The St Mary’s collegiate star didn’t have it easy in terms of his defensive assignment, drawing emerging star Alperen Sengun.
And Sengun got to work early on the offensive end, milking a shooting foul out of Landale in the early going.
The Turkish big man had nine points in the opening period and finished his night with 20 points, 15 rebounds and seven assists in 33 minutes.
Landale sunk a three with his second attempt of the evening, with Sengun sagging off just enough for the big Aussie to launch from distance.
“Did not think at this point in the season you’d say the Grizzlies’ best three-point shooter is Jock Landale,” the Grizzlies broadcast joked.
In fact, Landale entered as the fourth-best three-point shooter by percentage in the NBA, and that clip was substantiated on Thursday.
The 30-year-old Geelong Grammar product also ran the floor in transition for an easy basket in the first quarter. In his first seven minutes of action, he had five points on 2-3 shooting.
Late in the second quarter, Ja Morant found Landale in the same spot he made his first three — and it was a similar result, splashing home a sweet, high-arcing shot from distance despite a late Sengun close-out.
“The Jock Landale revenge game — he’s got eight (points),” caller Pete Pranica said on the Memphis broadcast.
In the third quarter, Landale made his third three-ball of the evening, moving to 11 points on 3-4 shooting from distance.
He mightn’t have drawn a rapid close-out on his first attempt of the night, but each successive attempt saw more gravity towards the six-foot-11 centre.
Notably, Landale, in his fifth year in the NBA, has started every Memphis game this season in the injury absence of centre Edey, who continues in his recovery from ankle surgery.
But while the Edey is an elite rim protector, Landale continues to demonstrate an ability to stretch defences with his upper-echelon outside shooting — which helps massively in spacing the floor. Edey does not have that same ability.
Thus, Grizzlies coach Tomas Iisalo will have interesting decisions to make regarding how he splits playing time between his big men once Edey is healthy enough to return to the hardwood.
The Grizzlies have been in the spotlight for the wrong reasons early this season, with superstar point guard Ja Morant making headlines for clashing with new head coach Iisalo.
Morant made comments to reporters after Memphis’ loss to the Los Angeles Lakers last Saturday, with the star guard telling them to “go ask the coaching staff” when asked about what wasn’t working for him.
Then, when asked what the team could have done better, Morant said that “according to them” (the coaching staff) it would probably involve not playing him.
He was suspended for a game for those actions, and the drama has prompted questions over the potential for a trade.
Memphis’ loss on Thursday resigned it to a measly 3-6 record on the season despite entering the campaign as a genuine playoff contender in the Western Conference.
In the final game of the day, Luka Doncic (34 points, nine rebounds, 13 assists) outdueled Victor Wembanyama (19 points, eight rebounds) in the LA Lakers’ narrow 118-116 win over the San Antonio Spurs.
But Lakers guard Marcus Smart’s costly blunder nearly forced overtime.
After San Antonio missed consecutive 3-pointers down 118-1114 in the final 10 seconds, Kelly Olynyk laid in an easy putback to make it a two-point game with 1.2 seconds left.
Smart quickly inbounded to Rui Hachimura streaming forward in the Lakers frontcourt, but Smart’s foot was on the baseline and thus he committed an inbound turnover.
It gave the Spurs one final possession to try and tie or win the game, with Julian Champagnie fouled on the very last play with 0.2 remaining.
Luckily for LA — and Smart more than anyone — Champagnie missed the first free throw. The Spurs forward intentionally missed the second one but time expired as San Antonio failed to get up another shot.
It iced the Lakers’ fifth-straight win as they improved to 7-2, despite LeBron James having yet to play a game this season due to a sciatica injury and Austin Reaves sitting out Thursday’s contest with a groin issue.
Doncic was dominant, scoring 22 of his 35 points in the first half to go with nine rebounds, 13 assists, five steals and two blocks. Deandre Ayton (22 points, 10 rebounds, two blocks) also registered a double-double.
San Antonio lost its second in a row after a 5-0 start to the season.
ALL RESULTS
76ers 121 Cavaliers 132
Jazz 103 Pistons 114
Nets 112 Pacers 103
Wizards 107 Celtics 136
Timberwolves 114 Knicks 137
Rockets 124 Grizzlies 109
Pelicans 101 Mavericks 99
Heat 112 Nuggets 122
Spurs 116 Lakers 118
Thunder 119 Trail Blazers 121
Warriors 116 Kings 121