The winning streak of the Toronto Raptors (52-17) is over. The Oklahoma City Thunder (42-29) won a spectacular exchange of blows in Canada, which was somewhat clouded by a controversial ending. After a show by Russell Westbrook Kyle Lowry, DeMar DeRozan, Serge Ibaka and also coach Dwane Casey have to leave the field early. The Thunder won with 132:125 (BOXSCORE).
Both teams came to the Air Canada Centre with winning series and played with a lot of self-confidence right from the start. Despite the early start, the opponents quickly found their rhythm, the Thunder sunk nine of their first ten throws and the match continued in this form. OKC caught the Raptors in transition over and over again and gave the Canadians a whopping 40 points.
But also the hosts scored well and with the reservists on the field the wind turned. Delon Wright, Pascal Siakam and Norman Powell did a lot right, while OKC’s Second Unit got nothing on the chain. In the middle of the second quarter, Toronto suddenly led in double figures, the result of a 20-4 run. When the Thunder brought back their Big Guns, things went well again, especially Paul George was active on both sides of the court. PG-13 also finished the half when he sunk a long jumper to take the Thunder 66-64 lead.
After the break, Toronto’s starter played much better, especially Kyle Lowry conducted strongly, but after just three minutes the playmaker took his (controversial) fourth foul. The same thing happened a little later with Jonas Valanciunas, the Thunder were always looking for Adams, who was unstoppable, annoying for OKC that Serge Ibaka accidentally hit the Kiwi’s knee with the crown jewels on the drive, the Thunder-Center went down and first had to be treated in the cabin.
Shortly before the end of the quarter, the next setback for OKC followed, when George picked up an unnecessary offensive foul, which was already his fifth. This time, however, the Thunder reservists did not let themselves be duped like in the first run, but held out against it, also because Alex Abrines was now allowed to play and scored two threesomes. The lead changed from time to time, while for OKC Russell Westbrook was increasingly looking for and meeting his own litter.
A good three minutes before the end was the end of the day for Lowry, who allowed himself to commit his sixth foul with a moving screen. It remained a wild affair, both teams did not give each other anything. George took the lead one minute before the end with two free throws (125:123), Wright got a layup on the other side. But then Westbrook was there again, finishing off a casual and then meeting a banker. But the Raptor attack was controversial in the meantime. DeRozan felt fouled on the drive and let the refs know. After the Russ-Jumper he took the T, George increased to 130:125 at 11.7 seconds on the clock.
But DeRozan complained again after another missing whistle and got ejected. His team mate Serge Ibaka followed him and followed the Shooting Guard. As George kept throwing free throws, coach Dwane Casey had to leave the bank prematurely, although it was questionable whether the coach had grumbled or not a fan. So the game ended with a whistling concert and the end of the winning streak of 11 games for the Raptors.
Westbrook scored 37 points, 13 rebounds and 14 assists for OKC, Adams scored 25 and 8 rebounds. George (22, 6/14 FG, 10/12 FT) and Anthony (15) also had their share. Toronto was led by DeMar DeRozan with 24 points, Lowry only played 27 minutes but scored a good double double (22, 10 assists).
Toronto Raptors (52-18) vs. Oklahoma City Thunder (43-29) 125:132 (BOXSCORE)
Russell Westbrook. Yes, Adams was outstanding too, but in crunchtime it was Ross time again. Meanwhile, he scored 13 points in the final quarter, by drive, from the middle distance or downtown. 37 points in 22 throws were no less impressive. That Toronto lost the game was mainly due to Russ, who also played his fifth triple-double in a row.
Serge Ibaka. It started well, but nothing happened afterwards, even though Melo defended him for some time. In the defense after Switches he was completely helpless against Westbrook and looked really old that evening. He also played against Adams for a few minutes and had no chance. 7 points (2/11 FG) and 6 rebounds were very poor.
No Fred VanVleet? No problem for the Bank of Raptors, who completely dismantled Oklahoma City in their stints, especially in the first half. Coach Dwane Casey also relied on Lucas Nogueira, as Jakob Pöltl had big problems with the physical bigs of the Thunder before. The Brazilian did a really good job with a lot of effort and also some surprising plays, which gave him some light dunks. Pöltl got another chance after the fourth foul of Valanciunas in the middle of the third quarter.