The Toronto Raptors have successfully ended their visit to Oklahoma City, defeating the Thunder 130-121. In a high-scoring game, which saw a lot of nice moves and guests leading from beginning up until the end, Nick Nurse equally divided the burden among his players.
The Raptors had seven guys with 10 or more points, and five of them had 15 or more. Apart from Fred VanVleet, who was out, the champs’ head coach had all of his key players at disposal. And on a few occasions, Toronto showed why everybody believes that they still have what it takes to be among the best teams in the league.
However, the Raps also showed that they still have a little rust on themselves, as this team hadn’t played in full strength for a while. They would almost drop a 30-point lead created in the second period, allowing the Thunder to come down to just four points with 2:39 left and seriously endangering the win.
“Just got a little bit more patient. Got the ball in the guy’s hands that we need to have the ball in. That’s what we need to do. We find a way, but we can’t put ourselves in those positions all the time,” stated Kyle Lowry following the contest.
Toronto was 73-43 up with 1:33 before the halftime, but they allowed OKC to drop 12 straight points until the end of the period. After that, the two teams were equal in the third sequence, and the final one started with a bit better play of the guests from Canada. Nurse’s guys were up 118-97 with 6:39 to go, but in the next four minutes, OKC made a 21-4 burst, cutting the deficit to just four buckets.
Yet, the champs responded, with Kyle Lowry, Powel, and Siakam taking matters in their hands, closing this event and posting their 26th victory of the campaign.
“You don’t want to go outside yourself,” Powell said. “When they go on a run like that, you just try to get everybody on the same page.”
Powell had a team-high 23 points, missing just two of his 11 shots from the field. Siakam and OG Anunoby had 21 points each, and were looking extremely well on the defensive side of the ball.
Lowry had 17 with 8 assists, Serge Ibaka 15, and Terrace Davis 12 off the bench. Marc Gasol played 32 minutes was 6-for-9 from the field, for 15 buckets, 5 boards, and 6 assists and presumably not caring about all the trade talks appearing around his name.
Among the hosts, Dennis Schroder came off the bench to score 25 points and hit five threes. Danilo Gallinari had 23, while Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had 21 with 6 boards and dimes each.
Chris Paul scored 16 points with 11 assists and four steals. Both teams have 18 turnovers apiece, but what eventually separated them was the field-goal percentage. Toronto had a fantastic 61.2%, while hosts posted 50.6%.
Up next, the Raptors (26-14) are going back home to face the Wizards before heading for Minneapolis.
The Thunder (23-18) has two more matches at home, the first against the Heat, and after that versus the Portland Trail Blazers.
