OKC Thunder: Player grades highlight collective win against Raptors
By Brandon Dale
The OKC Thunder continues to show no matter who Mark Daigneault decides to put into the starting lineup. They will be competitive.
Wednesday night was no different as the Thunder still are not subscribing to the “tank” plan that fans so desperately want. This game was a collective effort against a dismal Toronto Raptors side.
If you were to take the nine players who suited up for the clash and added their salaries, they would not even match Pascal Siakim‘s 30 million base salary. This fact blows my mind as to how the Thunder continue to do more with less than any NBA team.
Rebounding and points in the paint highlighted the game against Toronto, and even an early 14-point lead was not enough to stop OKC as the club climbed their way back to earn the victory.
113. 149. Final. 103. 81
As the first quarter was somewhat sloppy, OKC kept up with Toronto on the glass and started to heat up from the 3-point line. Moses Brown continued to show his ability to dominate in the paint. OKC Thunder newcomer Tony Bradley proved to be efficient in just 17 minutes of play as he provided five points and seven rebounds.
Coach Daigneault’s side has become much lengthier and athletic in recent weeks, with trades and others coming up from the G-League, and it proved to give the Raptors problems as the team had no answer for OKC in the paint.
The Thunder won the rebound battle 64 to Toronto’s 35 rebounds and 10 more points in the paint as OKC finished with 44 on the night.
Another note is that eight out of the nine players who suited up for this game scored by halftime, and every player had at least one rebound in the same timeframe.
By halftime, OKC shot 42 percent from the field and was balanced behind the 3-point line, shooting 7 of 16.
The rebounds were coming at a high rate as well. The Thunder finished the first half with 31 rebounds to go along with 24 points in the paint rounding out a very balanced game followed by a slow start.
This basketball display was a great way to snap OKC’s three-game losing streak, and Svi Mykhailiuk has proven to fit in quite nicely for this young Thunder nucleus.
With that said, let us take a look at the player grades from the well-balanced victory against the Toronto Raptors.