Raptors-Thunder Preview

By MATT BECKER
Posted Apr 07 2012 1:44PM

A three-game skid has cost the Oklahoma City Thunder their grip atop the Western Conference, but Kevin Durant knows it's no cause for alarm. After all, the losses were all close calls against stiff competition.

A home game against a lesser opponent could help them get back on track.

Durant and the Thunder try to avoid losing four consecutive games for the first time in three years Sunday night in their only matchup of the season with the Toronto Raptors.

Following last Sunday's easy win over Chicago to pull within one game of the Bulls for the NBA's best record, Oklahoma City (40-15) has fallen to Memphis, Miami and Indiana. With Friday's 103-98 loss to the Pacers, coupled with San Antonio's win over New Orleans, the Thunder dropped percentage points back of the Spurs for the West's best record.

"You can't panic," Durant said. "Three in a row is tough, especially late in the season, but you can't panic. We played hard all three games."

Each of Oklahoma City's last three defeats have come by six points or less - the last two were on the road - and against teams among the league's top 10 record-wise. The Thunder haven't lost four straight since April 3-8, 2009 - the end of their first season in Oklahoma City.

Durant finished with 44 points on 15-of-24 shooting against Indiana, but Russell Westbrook wasn't nearly as efficient.

Westbrook had 21 points but shot 7 for 23. The All-Star point guard is scoring 22.7 per game on 32.3 percent shooting during the losing streak after averaging 28.7 points and hitting 50.4 percent in the previous six games - all wins.

With Westbrook struggling, the Thunder, who are second in the league in scoring at 102.9 per game, have failed to reach triple digits in four straight. They're 11-10 when scoring fewer than 100, compared to 29-5 when hitting the century mark.

Oklahoma City failed to score 100 in either of its two games against the Raptors last season and lost both. Toronto was the only East team to sweep the Thunder.

The Raptors (20-36) have played sound defense in four games this month, yielding an average of 85.3 points while giving up no more than 92. They haven't had to face the toughest offenses, however, with contests against Washington, Charlotte, Philadelphia and Cleveland.

Toronto might not have as much luck in Oklahoma City, where the Thunder are 23-5. The Raptors have dropped six of eight on the road against teams with winning records.

They entered Friday riding a season-best three-game winning streak and looked like they would earn another victory, but were outscored 33-17 in the fourth quarter of an 84-80 loss to the Cavaliers.

Andrea Bargnani had 13 points on 6-of-7 shooting in the first quarter but missed 13 of 15 shots thereafter. He finished with 19 points, while DeMar DeRozan led Toronto with 28.

The Raptors hope point guard Jose Calderon returns after he sat out with a swollen right eye. With small forward James Johnson also held out, Toronto started two players from the NBA Development League versus Cleveland.

Johnson has dressed but not played in the last two games after starting 38 of the previous 40, averaging 10.4 points, 4.7 rebounds and 1.4 blocks. Coach Dwane Casey wouldn't identify why Johnson didn't see action.

"He'll be available to play (Sunday), he was available to play (Friday)," Casey said. "We chose as a staff not to play him. We're going build the program the right way, we're going to do things the right way, and we'll go from there."

Durant scores 23 to lead Thunder past Raptors

Posted Apr 08 2012 11:00PM

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) Oklahoma City coach Scott Brooks has preached to his players all season about successfully closing out quarters. The Thunder did that in the third quarter Sunday night and went on to snap a season-high three-game losing streak.

Kevin Durant scored 23 points and Oklahoma City had a 24-0 run bridging the third and fourth quarters en route to a 91-75 victory over the Toronto Raptors.

"We talked about that yesterday . to finish strong in all quarters," Brooks said. "I didn't think we had a great finish in the second quarter but we did a good job in the second half. We look for that and we wanted to see some progress in that area and I thought the guys really locked in and focused on closing out the quarters."

James Harden scored 17 points and Russell Westbrook had 15 points, six assists and six rebounds for Oklahoma City, which remained percentage points behind San Antonio for first place in the Western Conference.

"I have a great group of guys that play hard and play together," Brooks said. "They care for each other. None of us like the fact that we lost three in a row but they never pointed a finger at each other. We were frustrated that we lost but we weren't frustrated at each other."

The Thunder never trailed but the game was close for three quarters. Toronto was down 58-55 with 6:05 left in the third quarter, but the Raptors didn't score again in the period. Oklahoma City then scored the last 12 points of the third quarter - with Daequan Cook's 3-pointer stretching the advantage to 70-55 in the final seconds of the period - and the first 12 of the fourth to take 27-point lead.

"Guys got into the lane, got to the free-throw line and made great passes and our defense was really good," Durant said. "Our defense always ignites our offense. We got stops and we turned them into points."

Jose Calderon led Toronto with 19 points on 8-of-12 shooting and DeMar DeRozan added 16, going 6 for 22 from the field. The Raptors finished shooting 37 percent.

"We could play them 10 out of 10 times and the results probably wouldn't be different," Toronto coach Dwane Casey said. "But like I told the team, I am looking for 10 or 12 guys - I don't care what the talent level is - to compete, to fight, to scratch, to claw going down."

After beating the Eastern Conference-leading Chicago Bulls last Sunday, the Thunder lost at home to Memphis and followed that with road losses at Miami and Indiana. Toronto had swept the Thunder last season but Oklahoma City seized control early Sunday.

Durant, Derek Fisher and Cook each made a 3-pointer for the Thunder during a 21-8 run that bridged the first and second quarters. Durant ended the first by going the length of the floor with a rebound and hitting an 8-foot leaner at the buzzer, and Nick Collison's 17-foot jumper put Oklahoma City up 37-24 with 7:54 left in the first half.

Toronto pulled to 50-43 by halftime and the Raptors continued hanging around, cutting the deficit to 58-55 on a 3 by Alan Anderson midway through the third quarter.

The Raptors didn't score again until DeRozan hit a baseline jumper as the shot clock expired with 9:09 left in the game - a drought of nearly 9 minutes.

"Those stretches are the ones we've got to eliminate," Casey said. "They started making shots and we had to rest some of our players. The combination we had in there, at some point - DeMar can't play 48 minutes and Jose can't play 48 minutes, so we had to get a different matchup in there and those guys took advantage of it.

"No matter who's on the court, you've still got to have attention to detail and understand what is happening. . Those breakdowns can't happen."

It was important for the Thunder to carry a double-digit lead into the fourth quarter, Collison said.

"The third quarter, we were able to push it up (the floor) and that makes it a different ballgame," Collison said. "Going into the fourth quarter down 15 is hard to come back from."

Toronto cut the cap to 83-67 on a basket by James Johnson with 5:38 left, capping a 12-1 run, but Harden and Fisher each hit 3s to keep the Thunder comfortably ahead. Harden scored 12 points in the fourth quarter.

Serge Ibaka had five blocked shots to go with eight points and six rebounds for the Thunder.

NOTES: Calderon played despite a shiner under his right eye, the result of an inadvertent elbow he took last Wednesday against Philadelphia. He missed Toronto's game on Friday because of the injury but wore no protection on Sunday. . Toronto F Andrea Bargnani didn't play in the second half because of left calf tightness. . Toronto finished 8-10 against Western Conference foes this season. The Raptors haven't posted a .500 or better record against the West since the 1999-00 season. . Oklahoma City is 12-3 after a loss this season and 7-0 in Sunday games.

Notebook: Thunder 91, Raptors 75

Posted Sunday April 8, 2012 10:25PM

By Randy Renner, for NBA.com

THE FACTS: The Oklahoma City Thunder used a huge second half run and led by as many as 25 points in burying the Toronto Raptors 91-75. Kevin Durant led the Thunder with 23 points on 7-for-14 shooting. OKC's sixth man James Harden added 17 and Russell Westbrook dropped in 15 on 5-for-12 shooting. The Raptors managed to get just two players in double figures.

Point guard Jose Calderon led the way with 19 points on 8-for-12 shooting and DeMar DeRozan added 16 but it took him 22 shots to get there. The Raptors had to play the entire second half without their leading scorer, forward Andrea Bargnani. His left calf tightened up at halftime and he didn't return. Bargnani took only three shots and finished with seven points, his lowest total of the season. The Thunder defense shut down the Raptors in the second half holding them to just 32 points on 33.3 percent shooting.

QUOTABLE: "We held them under 40 percent (shooting) and anytime you can do that it puts you in good position. We just had to defend and move the ball and we knew we'd be okay."
-- Thunder head coach Scott Brooks.

TURNING POINT: Midway through the third quarter Toronto had cut an eight point Oklahoma City lead down to just three when the Thunder woke up and zipped out on a 24-0 run, 12-0 to end the third quarter and 12-0 to start the fourth, turning a tenuous 58-55 nail-biter into an 82-55 blowout early in the fourth quarter.

THE STAT: During the run Toronto was 0-for-9 and turned the ball over eight times. Meanwhile, Oklahoma City was 8-for-10 and did not turn the ball over.

QUOTABLE II: "The moment you relax they can hurt you. It was a three point game and that opened the floodgates. Those are things we have to stop. No matter who's on the court they have to pay attention to detail. Those breakdowns can't happen."
-- Raptors head coach Dwane Casey on the 24-0 Oklahoma City run.

QUOTABLE III: "We've talked about starting and finishing quarters strong. We really did that well in the third and fourth quarters."
-- Brooks.

HOT: Toronto point guard Jose Calderon started the game 5-for-6 (10 points)...In the fourth quarter Harden was 4-for-6.

NOT: The Raptors shot just 37.5 percent (9-for-24) in the first quarter. Five of those makes were Calderon's the rest of the team as just 4-for-18 (22.2 percent)...DeMar DeRozan was 3-for-11 in the first 16 minutes...In the third quarter the Raptors shot 23.8 percent...DeRozan was 0-for-6 in the third.

INSIDE THE ARENA: Another sell-out crowd inside Chesapeake Energy Arena, the 43rd straight regular season full house and the 52nd consecutive including playoffs.

GOOD MOVE: On the last play of the first quarter Durant grabbed a rebound and raced back up the court as the clock ticked down from four seconds. Durant faked to his left and cut to his right going across the mid-court line and then drove into the lane as the clocked ticked past two seconds. He then avoided a Raptors player in the lane and dropped in a short jumper just as the buzzer sounded.

NOTABLE: Bargnani left the game in the second half with tightness in his left calf and did not return. Toronto is listing him day-to-day for now...The Thunder is now 7-0 on Sundays this season...The 75 points by Toronto is the second lowest allowed by OKC this season (74 vs. New Jersey).

UP NEXT: For the Raptors, Monday @ Indiana, Wednesday vs. Philadelphia, Friday vs. Boston. For the Thunder, Monday @ Milwaukee, Wednesday vs. LA Clippers, Friday vs. Sacramento.

• Raptors: Alabi, Bayless
• Thunder: Jackson, Maynor

• Raptors: --
• Thunder: --

• Lead Changes: 0
• Times Tied: 2

• Arena: Chesapeake Energy Arena, Oklahoma City, OK
• Officials: #63 Derek Richardson, #26 Pat Fraher, #14 Ed Malloy
• Attendance: 18203
• Duration: 2:11