The OKC Thunder drop their fourth consecutive game in an overtime thriller to the Toronto Raptors. Player grades break down the loss.
On a night when Nick Collison‘s jersey was raised to the rafters, one would have thought that alone would inspire the OKC Thunder to put on a show.
Yet, other than Russell Westbrook the team was lackadaisical through three full quarters. Using excuses of injuries or chemistry doesn’t quite cut it when the team you are facing were starting their 21st starting lineup of the season and have only had a full roster compliment on three of their games this season.
The Raptors are a machine playing well on both sides of the ball and when necessary throw out five players who lock down their opponents. Watching how easy the Raptors got their shots through to the end of the third quarter speaks to the depth on this squad.
Particularly when Fred VanVleet is just returning from an extended injury absence and Kyle Lowry is missing after a second consecutive clipping infraction. Yeah – I know this is the NBA but the Raptors seemingly get injured on infractions where their opponents hit them, pull them down or push them from behind while in the air.
Entering this home and home series I was sure the OKC Thunder would take the first game given how they’ve raised their play against the top squads in the league. Now, I’m genuinely worried this team is in trouble as the defense which ruled the squad is missing for entire game segments. Understandably, playing lockdown defense is tiring, but it shouldn’t disappear for entire halves or three-quarters of the game.
Toronto jumped on the Thunder immediately building a 39-31 first quarter lead pushing it to 63-55 at the half.
Russell Westbrook kept hopes alive as he single-handedly drove the energy on both sides of the court even hitting an uncharacteristically high percentage from behind the arc.