Thunder Struggle With Raptors Height in 128-111 Loss

As Shai Gilgeous-Alexander appeared in his fourth game in Toronto against the Raptors, his third with the Thunder, the Oklahoma City Thunder had a chance to reach .500 on the season. They hadn’t successfully won a game to go .500 since they were 2-3, pushing them to 3-3. This would hold true for the night as the Thunder once again failed to reach .500. They took an 128-111 loss to the Raptors.

Though it was a homecoming game for Gigleous-Alexander, and Lu Dort at that, he still saw plenty of double-teams, some of which came before he even crossed halfcourt. The Raptors threw plenty of attention at him. He still scored six points as the two teams would trade runs for the first quarter, with the Raptors ending the first frame on top 29-28.

Pascal Siakam and Fred VanVleet were causing problems early for OKC, as they both scored nine points apiece in the first quarter.

Despite the pressure and focus from the Raptors defense, Gilgeous-Alexander brought a more relentless attack as he ended the first half with 19 points on 9-of-10 shooting, including a tough, fadeaway 3-pointer as time expired in the first half.

The traded runs continued from both sides as the Thunder trailed 64-59 after the first half. One issue for the first half for the Thunder was rebounding. The Raptors pulled down ten more first half rebounds than the Thunder.

The start of the third frame wasn’t easy for the Thunder. The Raptors size and length caused a plethora of problems, but the Thunder hung around. As they got down by double-digits, back-to-back threes from Tre Mann, who was coming off a few DNP’s by coach's decision, and Isaiah Joe got the Thunder right back in the mix of things. A couple turnaround fadeaways from Scottie Barnes would signify that the Raptors weren’t quite ready to allow the comeback yet.

The Raptors held onto their lead through the third quarter, finishing the quarter with a 93-87 lead.

As the fourth quarter began, the Raptors jumped in the action early, which was huge in putting an early stint in any Thunder comeback attempt. As the quarter continued, the Thunder slowly bled out offensively as they continued to struggle and find clean shot attempts. On the other hand, the Raptors took advantage in fast breaks consistently to find easy points, which slowly but surely put this game out of reach.

Though the Thunder finished each of the first few quarters within arm’s reach of the Raptors, they wouldn’t have had they not strung together a run. At no point did they ever feel in control of this game.

Eventually, the Raptors maintained their big lead and finished the game defeating the Thunder 128-111.

The Thunder were overwhelmed all game by the Raptors length on defense. They were either turning the ball over or being forced into difficult shot attempts every other possession. On top of that, they were struggling on the boards, as the Raptors out-rebounded the Thunder 58-39.

Coming off a few DNP-CD’s apiece, Jeremiah Robinson-Earl and Mann both got their first bit of rotation time in a few games. Olivier Sarr also saw some action as the Thunder were looking for any sort of answer to the Raptors height.

In his hometown return, Gilgeous-Alexander finished with 29 points on 12-of-19 shooting from the field and knocking down is lone 3-point attempt. He made only a few trips to the free throw line, shooting 4-of-5 on those attempts.

Once again, a .500 record has escaped the Oklahoma City Thunder as they can’t seem to finish climbing that hill. However, they remain in the Play-In race as the Western Conference is tight-knit. They fall to 34-36 as the rest of the season winds down.

The Thunder return to action on Sunday at 2:30 pm where they’ll take on the Phoenix Suns.

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