NBA highlights on Jan. 22: OKC 'steal' victory against Trail Blazers

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The 2018-19 NBA regular season finished Tuesday with four games. The Oklahoma City Thunder beat the visiting Portland Trail Blazers 123-114 thanks to 16 steals that tied the team's season record. Meanwhile, as the trade deadline approaches, multiple teams began to act for final franchise adjustments.

Thunder win a physical game

Steven Adams (L) of the Oklahoma City Thunder and Jusuf Nurkic (R) of the Portland Trail Blazers work against each other in the paint in the game that the Thunder win 123-114 on January 22. /VCG Photo

Paul George scored 36 points, eight rebounds and five assists for Oklahoma City by making three of his six three-pointers. Russell Westbrook dropped the 118th triple-double in his career with 29 points, 10 rebounds and 14 assists.

For Portland, Damian Lillard returned 34 points and eight rebounds but also missed eight of his 10 shots from the 3-pt line. C.J. McCollum scored 31 points while Jusuf Nurkic took a double-double of 22 points and 15 rebounds. No one else scored double digits.

Russell Westbrook #0 of the Thunder dunks in the game against the Trail Blazers on January 22. /VCG Photo

The Thunder victory was based mainly on aggressiveness in defense. The 16 steals led to 28 points in early offense and offset the team's disadvantage in rebounding (37-52). Though OKC found it difficult to stop Nurkic from scoring in the paint, they managed to limit his assists from season-average 3.2 to one in Tuesday's game.

Portland lost the competition partially for lack of consistency in scoring. In the first half, their back-court combination, Lillard and McCollum, put down only 21 points together. Moreover, the team sank only three three-pointers out of their 17 shots. By contrast, George alone dropped 20 points after the first half.

Damian Lillard (C) of the Portland Trail Blazers shoots in the game against the Thunder on January 22. /VCG Photo

McCollum in the third quarter began to find his shooting range to put down 21 points via his 5/6 for three-pointers. Lillard in the fourth quarter took over the mission from McCollum to score 14 points but like previous, the two failed to keep scoring at the same time and thus always saw OKC expand the lead before Portland could catch up.

Time to make more phone calls, GMs

Marc Gasol (L) and Mike Conley (R) of the Memphis Grizzlies high-five each other. /VCG Photo

ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski wrote on Twitter on Tuesday that the Memphis Grizzlies are willing to hear offers for their franchise stars, Marc Gasol and Mike Conley, naming two of the biggest targets on the market.

Gasol, 33, can choose to opt out of his 25.5-million-U.S.-dollar contract in 2019 summer and he will probably do so if Memphis cannot improve their performance this season. At an age that is definitely not young for a 2.16-meter center, Gasol played on average 33.8 minutes in 46 of the team's 47 games and could drop 15.3 points, 8.5 rebounds, 4.7 assists, 1.3 blocks and 1.2 steals per game. Besides, he has already sunk 66 three-pointers with a rate of 35 percent that is not incredible, but good enough to pose a threat around the 3-pt line as a big man.

Marc Gasol, a 2.16-meter Spanish center of the Grizzlies. /VCG Photo

Though the Spanish giant seemed too slow for this small-ball era in the regular season, he would be more valuable in the more physical playoffs. Gasol is big enough to fill the paint, smart in both offense and defense and, most importantly, he's a playmaker, which means he could add more options to a team in defense.

Conley has a longer contract which will last until 2021 but he could choose to opt out of it in the summer of 2020. At the age of 31, he could put down 19.8 points and 6.1 assists with only 1.8 turnovers per game in the 33.5 minutes he played in the 46 games so far. Conley is a typical old-school point guard who always knows how to make the right decision in offense while he's also an underestimated defender.

Mike Conley of the Memphis Grizzlies handles the ball during the game. /VCG Photo

Both Gasol and Conley entered the league via the 2007 NBA Draft and have been playing for the Grizzlies since then. Together with Zach Randolph who left in 2017, they brought Memphis to their peak in the NBA. However, in the past four years, thanks to injuries, age and changes in trends, the Grizzlies kept declining and have only won only 19 games so far this season. After almost eight years of maintaining the same core franchise, perhaps it's time for the team to make a change and restart.

Sam Amico of Amico Hoops reported that the San Antonio Spurs are interested in introducing Tristan Thompson and possibly, Alec Burks from the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Spurs currently rank No.6 in the Western Conference and lack athleticism, which explains why they can only take 44.4 rebounds (No.21 in the league) and 4.6 blocks (No.24 in the league) per game. If they manage to add Thompson who is playing the best season of his career with 11.5 points and 11.1 rebounds per game to their squad, the Spurs shall be able to improve their game.

Tristan Thompson of the Cleveland Cavaliers. /VCG Photo

Meanwhile, the Cavaliers, as the league's only team that have not won 10 games so far this season, are willing to trade any veteran player they have at a good price. Since they already entered franchise rebuilding, Cleveland would be happy to see future draft picks, especially first-round ones put in a deal. San Antonio, as it so happens, have two first-rounders.

The 2018-19 NBA trade deadline is February 7.

Other results on Tuesday: (away teams come first)

Sacramento Kings 105-120 Toronto Raptors

Los Angeles Clippers 98-106 Dallas Mavericks

Minnesota Timberwolves 118-91 Phoenix Suns