Recap: Thunder at Raptors

By Nick Gallo and Paris Lawson | okcthunder.com

Box Score: OKC at TOR

During this challenging stretch late in the season where the Thunder is seemingly living on the road, the team’s test on Thursday night was in one of the most challenging and consistent road environments in the league. 

For the first three quarters the Thunder battled the Toronto Raptors back and forth, with five ties and 11 lead changes. Gashing the defense with quick attacks, the Thunder got into the lane and was able to kick out for threes as well. OKC ripped off runs of 7-0 and 8-0 in the first quarter, only to be parried by a 10-0 run by Toronto. In the second quarter the Raptors used a 7-0 spurt, but Hamilton, Ontario’s own Shai Gilgeous-Alexander nailed a three at the halftime buzzer to keep this one within five points at halftime. 

Toronto built a double-digit lead in the third quarter, continuing to bleed the Thunder out on offensive rebounds and transition opportunities, totaling 21 second chance points and 23 fast break points in the game. In the fourth quarter, the Thunder went four minutes without a made field goal, and the Raptors were able to run up their lead to as many as 20, and eventually a 128-111 final score.   

Nick: The Thunder and Raptors went back and forth throughout the first quarter, but OKC broke out with a 7-0 burst that was accentuated by a link up between the two Canadians on the roster. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander pump faked, stepped through with a long pivot into the middle of the lane and dished all the way across the court to Lu Dort in the right corner. That’s the same corner where Dort hit five 3-pointers on Tuesday against the Nets in Oklahoma City, and Dort picked right up where he left off and buried that one from Shai too. Dort and Gilgeous-Alexander both scored six points apiece in the first quarter, and combined for 39 points, 11 rebounds, eight assists and three steals in the game. 

Paris: Tre Mann attacked off the screen set by Dario Saric at the top of the key. Mann dropped the ball off to Saric in the lane who only had the ball in his right hand for a second before firing it out to the corner to Ousmane Dieng who cashed in the open 3-pointer. It was a quick-decision, fast-paced play by the veteran that resulted in an open look for the Thunder behind the 3-point line. The inside-out triple was the second of the night for the Thunder who had to work multiple actions offensively to gain an advantage against Toronto’s lengthy and aggressive defense. 

Nick: Immediately after catching the ball, Thunder guard Tre Mann made a decisive attack to the paint and burn past his defender who was left flatfooted at the top of the key. Waiting for him in the lane was Raptors 7-foot-1 center Christian Koloko, but for Mann, that was no matter. Maintaining his power, Mann elevated, embraced the contact at the rim, hung in the air and pushed in a runner. He combined that physical attack with another quick decision to line up a catch-and-shoot three on the left wing, which he knocked in just as smoothly as the runner. Despite not being in the rotation the last few games, Mann was vigilant as he watched and worked out, primed and ready for his opportunity north of the border. Mann chipped in seven of his 12 total points in the second quarter alone. 

Paris: Toronto found its offensive stride in the second quarter posting 35 points and taking its first lead of the ball game by as many as eight points. However, the Thunder threw a punch of its own before heading into halftime. Lu Dort attacked the middle of the lane and dropped it off inside to J-Dub who was hanging out in the dunkers spot. Made the shot while taking on the contact for an and-one opportunity. Fred VanVleet made a jumper on the other end and it was Shai Gilgeous-Alexander who sank the jumper at the buzzer to give th eThunder an offensive lift going into halftime trailing by five points. 

Nick: Operating at the left elbow, after receiving a screen from Jaylin Williams, Josh Giddey kept his head up and ever-so-briefly surveyed the floor around him. Maybe he was picking out a cross-court pass, or maybe he was just waiting for Williams to beat the defense on a roll to the rim, but Giddey timed his behind the back bounce pass down the slot perfectly, and Williams snapped it up easily for a layup. Giddey also racked up seven of his 13 points in the third quarter and was a critical part of the Thunder keeping this one close after Toronto built a double-digit lead on a couple of different occasions in the period. 

Paris: Isaiah Joe patiently took on a hurried closeout from a Raptors’ defender. The sharp-shooter simply dropped a pass off to the elbow where Jalen Williams stood ready to help. Joe immediately relocated to the corner where Williams zipped the ball back out to him for a wide-open 3-pointer that splashed through the nets. Joe cashed in two 3-pointers in the 3rd frame that helped provide an offensive boost to the Thunder as the team balanced a two-possession deficit the entirety of the frame against Toronto’s humming offense. 

Paris: Olivier Sarr got his first extended minutes of action against Toronto as the Thunder’s newly minted two-way player. In his third game for the Thunder, the 7-foot Frenchman logged 10 minutes of action and used the time to demonstrate one of his biggest strengths defensively – racking up blocks. Sarr swatted away the shot of both Jakob Poeltl and Fred VanVleet in the second half. During his time with the OKC Blue, Sarr imposed a similar threat as he averaged over two blocks per game. 

Nick: Isaiah Joe launched a three from out top that rimmed out, but Gilgeous-Alexander stuck his nose in the play to crash in for an offensive rebound. Immediately after he grabbed the ball he was ready to shoot and he knocked in a baseline jumper for two of his 29 points in the game. Gilgeous-Alexander had 75 friends and family members at the game in his annual return to Toronto, where he was born, and he put on another efficient and effective scoring performance as he shot 12-for-19 from the field, while making his only three. The scoring barrage gave him his 26th-straight game of 20-or-more points, the third longest active streak in the NBA. For the season, Shai has scored at least 20 in 56 of his 59 games played. 

“Toronto was on brand tonight. I felt they were the aggressor. A lot of the fast breaks in the first half were off of our turnovers, which we know they're obviously really capable of and then they were the aggressor on offense as well. They had their head down, they had us on our heels early in the game, and then got themselves a lot of second chance points. They're bigger at a lot of positions and we had to offset that with way more physicality than we had if we wanted to win the game.

We didn't play our best but we kept the game in striking distance. When you don't play your best, that's all you can hope for. But we never got to the solution tonight on either end of the floor in a consistent way. We had our moments on a possession by possession basis, but we didn't string enough together in order to give ourselves a chance to thrust back into the game.” –Coach Daigneault 

“It was a tough fight. They brought a lot of energy. They were really physical on both sides of the floor. We tried to get back to it but they earned that one tonight.” –Lu Dort 

The Thunder returns back to Paycom Center for a Sunday afternoon showdown with the Phoenix Suns at 2:30 p.m. After enjoying a weekend at home, the Thunder hits the road once again for a four-game swing to face the LA Clippers twice, the Los Angeles Lakers and then the Portland Trail Blazers.

By Zach Beeker | OKC Thunder