Grades: OKC Thunder lose OT thriller to Raptors on Collison jersey night

OKC Thunder Best Reserve:

Dennis Schroder gets this nod by this evening although I did feel Nerlens Noel was a close second. Noel brings energy off the bench and just changes things up for the reserves.

Schroder won out by virtue of being the only player to not register a negative differential and he also pulled down seven rebounds to pair with his 12 points and 4 assists.

Best Opponent:

This award could easily go to Kawhi Leonard but I can’t ignore Spicy P’s performance tonight. With Lowry out injured and Lin still not evolving the way Nurse would like the Raptors coach put the ball in Siakam’s hands on many occasions this evening to run the offense.

He gave at least three different OKC Thunder players nightmares trying to deal with his spin moves and just to prove how much confidence Nurse has in Siakam he put him on Russ to try to slow him down in the fourth quarter. By night end he accumulated 33 points, 13 rebounds, six assists, two steals, and a block.

I picked him preseason for Most Improved Player – and in my eyes, he’s more than lived up to the accolades. Spicy P isn’t just having a good season – this kid is going to be All-Star and I might even go so far as consider him for the potential to enter the top 10 conversation within the next year or two — that’s how strongly I believe in his two-way skillset.

Final Thoughts

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Russell Westbrook returned with a mission in mind, unfortunately, his teammates took three full quarters to catch up.

This Raptors team is going deep in the postseason!

Where has the OKC Thunder defense disappeared to and why is it such a struggle suddenly for the team to summon defensive efforts? At one time as fans, we never had to worry because at any given moment they would shut down their defenders. Aside from the wins over the Jazz and Blazers, it’s been a minute since the vaunted defense has been on hand.

Congratulations to Mr. Thunder – Nick Collison on the jersey retirement. It was great Serge Ibaka also got to witness the ceremony.

Let’s hope this sparks a fire underneath the OKC Thunder and they can get back to their winning ways before the postseason begins.

With the victory, the Raptors improve to 21-7 versus the West (the best record of any Eastern team).

Don’t bet the bank on Kawhi Leonard leaving the Raptors anytime soon – he likes the team, his coach and the city. Besides can you imagine Kawhi dealing with Steve Ballmer’s hyper nature on a daily basis?

Next up for the OKC Thunder travel to the 6ix to complete this home and home series versus the Raptors. For a full box score of tonight’s game, click this link.

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