Game Rap: Raptors 100, Thunder 119

Holly MacKenzie - Raptors.com

Dion Waiters made a layup with 6:45 remaining to put the Thunder up by 20. The Raptors went into the fourth trailing by 23, but managed to get within 14 before Oklahoma City turned up the intensity and rolled to an easy 119-100 victory. The loss drops Toronto to 49-24 on the season.

The Raptors didn’t shoot well in the first half, making just 37 percent of their shots, but had stretches of solid basketball sandwiched between a slow start and bad close leading into the break. The Thunder led by as many as 12 points in the opening quarter before Toronto opened the second on a 10-0 run to take a one-point lead. Oklahoma City quickly jumped in front and extended the lead to 13 on an emphatic Westbrook dunk with 16.7 seconds remaining in the half.

Things got worse for the Raptors in the third as they were outscored 36-26 by the Thunder. Oklahoma City shot 55 percent in the quarter, outrebounded Toronto 14-5, and made 8-of-9 free throw attempts to turn a 13-point halftime advantage into a 23-point advantage going into the fourth quarter.

Kyle Lowry had his shooting arm wrapped after the game and said that he had fluid drained from his right elbow. Lowry’s elbow has been bothering him since the team’s trip to London, with inflammation flaring up when he gets hit. He said he doesn’t think rest is something that will help the arm, but that he’s hopeful treatment and the decision to drain the fluid will.

On a night where his teammates struggled to score, rookie Norman Powell came to play once again. Powell played 28 minutes and scored 18 points on 7-for-13 field goals, including 4-for-7 from beyond the 3-point line. On the defensive end of the floor, Powell often had the toughest assignment of the game, trying to slow fellow UCLA alum Russell Westbrook.

Patrick Patterson put in another solid performance off the bench on Monday, scoring 13 points on 4-for-6 shooting to go with three rebounds, an assist, a steal and two blocked shots in 30 minutes of action.

“It means a lot that the coaches are trusting me, putting me out there, trusting me to guard their best players. I just know it’s a process. It’s going to be like that. At the beginning of the year, I knew I was going to be coming off the bench or going down to the D-League. It’s just how it goes. I had this experience in college, having to wait my turn, just continuing to work, continuing to chip away at it, and when my opportunity comes, go in there and be ready. I feel like I’ve been doing that and I’m still working. There’s more work to be done for me.” - Norman Powell on going from not getting time to moving into the starting lineup

11…Made 3-pointers for the Thunder, who shot 11-for-26 from deep, compared to Toronto’s 8-for-24 shooting performance.

26…Points, 11 rebounds, 12 assists for Russell Westbrook who recorded his league-leading 16th triple-double of the season.

53…Rebounds for Oklahoma City, compared to 40 for the Raptors.

48…Percent shooting for Oklahoma City who connected on 41-of-86 shots. Toronto shot 41 percent in the game, making 38-of-93 attempts.

32Free throw attempts for the Thunder, 23 for the Raptors. OKC coverted 26 of their 32 attempts, compared to Toronto who made 16 of 23 attempts.

“That’s an elite team and I thought he competed as well as you could ask a rookie to do against one of the top point guards in the league. He did what he did, he made shots. I thought he played with confidence on the offensive end. He made some mistakes, but we all did. Tonight is learning experience that tells us how hard we have to compete with force on both ends of the floor, for a longer period of time.”- Dwane Casey on Norman Powell’s performance against Russell Westbrook“I was excited. I was talking about it yesterday with one of my friends and I wanted to guard him. We have a little rivalry talking about UCLA all the time in the summer going up against him. He’s one of the players I try to model my game after. It was a big game or me. I was excited and ready to take on the challenge.”- Norman Powell on facing off against Russell Westbrook“It was tough. We competed early on and then they got a little stride with it. They ran away with it, they got hot, they got into a rhythm with their offence. They gambled in the passing lanes on defence, got some steals, got out and got easy buckets.”- DeMar DeRozan on the Thunder once they get going““We just got it drained. We just drained it, we thought it would calm down over the next few days and we wanted to do it while we got home. [We have] a couple days between games, and I got it done, just drained it and hopefully we’ll get a good reaction from it.”- Kyle Lowry on dealing with a sore right elbow

Up next: The Raptors will face off against the Atlanta Hawks at Air Canada Centre on Wednesday at 7:30 P.M. ET.