OKC Drops One To Toronto In Uncharacteristic Fashion.
By A. Suave Francisco
This was the first major test for Oklahoma City at home this season and it wasn't a great showing. The Toronto Raptors came to town and defeated the Thunder 112-102.
In a game where OKC only shot 42.3 percent, it was impressive that they even competed like they did in the first place. Russell Westbrook hasn't shot well lately, at all, but finished Wednesday's game with 36 points, 7 assists, and 7 rebounds, on 9-of-26 shooting. He also had an uncharacteristic 8 turnovers. It seems like every time he has a high turnover type of night, the team struggles and often times loses. Victor Oladipo was in unfamiliar territory tonight because his offense looked as good as his defense. He finished the game with 18 points on 5-for-8 shooting from three.
What really hurt this team was two things: DeMar DeRozan, and Toronto's shooting. As a team, they shot 42.3 percent from three, with 11 makes. They had 9 at halftime. Before this game, they were the worst three-point shooting team in the NBA. The crazy stat is DeRozan only contributing to two of the team's attempted threes and didn't hit either. He scored his 37 points on shots inside the paint, shooting 13-of-22. Kyle Lowry made up for a sub-par overall shooting night with 5 makes from three on 11 attempts.
Toronto's defense on Russell was great, forcing him to shoot contested shots, and they did a great job of eliminating his options by locking up his teammates off the ball. Every man had an assignment, and they all held up their end of the bargain.
Enes Kanter didn't look like Enes Kanter. He had a rough time adjusting to the physicality of Toronto's bigs and seemed to have gotten out of his aggressive attack mode type of game in the early stages of this one. He only shot three times and made all three which made his point total 8 for the game. Normally, he and Steven combine for 20 or more rebounds per game with both getting at least 8 or 9 per game. Tonight they combined for 12 and that came exclusively from Adams. Kanter laid an egg, not getting one rebound in his 19 minutes of play. He also had the worst plus/minus on the team at -11.
Moving forward, this team has to be somewhat optimistic. They lost to a top-three Eastern Conference team by only 10 points despite shooting a shade under 42 percent for the game, committing 19 turnovers, and missing Kanter's season average of 13 points and 7 rebounds off the bench. Basically, they had a horrible offensive night against an elite team and only lost by 10. If there's any positivity in this loss, it's that.
Next up for OKC will be the (6-1) Los Angeles Clippers again, but at home. Remember, they've already beaten the Clippers in L.A. This time they'll have their home crowd backing them in the Chesapeake Energy Arena on Friday night.