OKC Thunder comeback falls short against visiting Raptors- player grades

The OKC Thunder let the defending champs run all over them for most of the game, only to lose in a heartbreaking comeback effort. Player grades serve up the details.

These two teams always seem to play close, fun games against one another. For most of the game, though, the game was out of hand in favor of the defending champions. The OKC Thunder were outclassed by the Toronto Raptors for most of the game tonight, only to have a valiant comeback effort fall short.

Toronto came to play, as their offensive onslaught began at tip-off. Pascal Siakam and Serge Ibaka imposed their will on OKC early as the Raptors stretched their lead to 13 as the first quarter came to a close.

The Thunder never really got into a rhythm in the first half, as they also lost their center Steven Adams to a knee contusion sometime during the first frame. That didn’t help matters as the lead ballooned to 30 points late in the second quarter. OKC hit four straight triples to cut the lead to 18 points going into halftime.

More of the same was to come in the third quarter until the OKC Thunder finally started to wake up. Their offense picked up some steam as they cut the once insurmountable lead to eight late in the period. But the Raptors were not to be denied as they took the Thunder’s punch and socked them right back with a run of their own to bring the lead back to the 20’s midway through the 4th quarter.

The Thunder, who have not been known to give up, had one last run left in them as they actually made it a one score game with less than two minutes to go. But the magic ran out, and Toronto held on to a thrilling win for their team.

On to player grades.