No Dion Tonight For Thunder

By Randy Renner, Senior Writer

Thunder backup guard Dion Waiters is not back with the team yet following the funeral of his brother Demetrius Pinckney.

“We’re hoping Dion will be back later tonight, or early in the morning,” head coach Billy Donovan told reporters before tonight’s game.

Donovan also said he doesn’t sense any frustration from his players despite the Thunder’s 4-8 record coming out of the All-Star break.

With Portland in town tonight OKC will have to defend the 3-point line and try to keep the Blazers off of it as much as possible. But that will be a tough mission, the Blazers took 44 shots from beyond the arc when these teams played in Portland in January. That’s the game where Damian Lillard hit five 3s in the last three minutes of the game to push his team to the win. The Blazers hit 19 of those 44 long balls through the night.

“It’d be hard to hit the over,” Portland coach Terry Stotts joked when asked if he was planning on his team have another 44 shot night from beyond the arc.

“But you never know,” he smiled.

We all know how bad the Thunder have been in the fourth quarter this season, losing 12 games when they had a lead going into the last 12 minutes.

Portland on the other hand is 20-1 when leading at the half.

Tipoff is set for 7:10 and you can see the game on Fox Sports Oklahoma. Follow me on Twitter @RandyRenner for live updates from The Peake and join us after the game for a full video report with reaction from the Thunder lockerroom.