Alonzo Adams-USA TODAY Sports
Raptors Fail to Impress Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in Blowout Loss to Thunder
A trip to Oklahoma City was supposed to be a chance for the Toronto Raptors to wink at Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the uber-talented Canadian supposedly frustrated with all the losing he's been through over the past few seasons.
The Raptors have long been connected to Gilgeous-Alexander, the Toronto native, who was reportedly on the Raptors' radar going back to the 2018 NBA Draft. Since then, Toronto has been admiring Gilgeous-Alexander from afar and "monitoring" the situation to see if he may be made available at some point in the not-too-distant future, as TSN's Josh Lewenberg reported this summer.
If the plan had been to impress Gilgeous-Alexander, Friday's 132-113 loss to the Thunder did exactly the opposite.
The Raptors have developed a bad habit over the past couple of seasons of playing down to their opponents' supposed talent level. Last season, for example, Toronto split two games with the Thunder, dropped a game to the Orlando Magic, and lost three straight to the lowly Detroit Pistons. Friday was no different.
Toronto came out completely flat in the first half. Scottie Barnes looked out of sorts, taking bad pull-up jumpers and awkward fallaway post-ups while looking lost on the defensive end. The Thunder, meanwhile, shredded Toronto's lackadaisical defense, scoring 42 points in the paint as they jumped ahead by as many as 19 points in the second quarter.
Barnes looked a little better in the second half, finally getting into the paint and converting a trio of free throws. But it didn't get much better than that.
Gilgeous-Alexander continued to light up the scoreboard with 20 points in just 28 minutes despite Toronto giving him the superstar defensive treatment. He opened the game with the first bucket of the evening, picking off a no-look pass from Barnes and taking it the other way for a layup. Later, he beat O.G. Anunoby with his hesitation move in the second quarter, zig-zagging his way through the Raptors' defense before nailing a floater off the backboard.
Fellow Canadians Luguentz Dort and Eugene Omoruyi didn't disappoint either as Dort nailed a trio of three-pointers for 13 points while Omoruyi had a career-high 22 points in his third year out of Oregon.
Up Next: Indiana Pacers
The Raptors will have another one of these supposedly easy games on Saturday night when they take on the Indiana Pacers at 7 pm ET.
