10 Things from Raptors-Thunder

Here’s 10 takeaways from the Toronto Raptors’ 116-109 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder.

One – Barrage: The only difference between this loss and Wednesday’s win was variance in 3-point shooting. OKC hit 20-of-43 from deep tonight as compared to just 13-of-43 in the first meeting. The Thunder largely got the same quality of looks through their drive-and-kick offence, except OKC’s inconsistent shooters – namely Dennis Schroder and Jerami Grant – actually knocked down their looks.

Two – Motivation: Aside from random variation in 3-point shooting, the Thunder also just played with more desperation as compared to Wednesday. George stayed out of foul trouble and logged 41 minutes on the night, while Westbrook never lacks for energy, and they were determined to break a four-game losing streak. OKC also turned up their intensity on defence, as they forced 21 turnovers from the Raptors by constantly throwing double teams and jumping the passing lanes. The Thunder also held Toronto to just eight fast-break points, although that also speaks to the absence of Kyle Lowry.

Three – Polarizing: Kawhi Leonard exploded for 20 points in the fourth and finished with a game-high 37 points, but it felt like a hollow effort. Leonard made some very questionable decisions on offence, and many of his misses and turnovers resulted in transition baskets for the Thunder. He also only finished with four assists despite taking 23 shots and committing eight turnovers. Leonard is great as an individual scorer, but he’s also somewhat predictable in how he attacks, and the Thunder were smart to throw double teams his way.

Four – Brilliant: Pascal Siakam was the best player on the floor in the first half but he was conspicuously absent down the stretch. Part of it was on Nick Nurse for leaving him on the bench for the first six minutes of the fourth as OKC raced out to a double-digit advantage, but Siakam also just doesn’t attack with the same ferocity as he would earlier in games. It’s not to say that he tightens up, but Siakam defers to Leonard to finish games more than he would to start.

Five – Pattern: Nurse continues to hone in on a playoff rotation as he once again scrapped the all-bench lineup. Siakam and Fred VanVleet were left to oversee the second unit during the first quarter, while Leonard took over at the start of the second and fourth quarters as the go-to player. Issues still arise, however, whenever the dreaded trio of Jeremy Lin, Norman Powell, and OG Anunoby share the floor. Those three can never see meaningful time together in the postseason.

Six – Solution: The rotation should resolve itself once Lowry returns from his ankle injury. Lowry cuts out most of Powell’s minutes at shooting guard, and allows VanVleet to cover all of Lin’s disastrous minutes at backup point guard. Toronto hasn’t enjoyed 48 minutes of reliable and steady point guard play all season, and it continues to be the main reason why the second unit bleeds points.

Seven – Spry: VanVleet had a poor finish, but he started the game on fire. Sitting out the last month has done his body wonders, as VanVleet has rediscovered his burst. He was slow and sloppy at the rim earlier this season when he was hampered by toe and back injuries, but now he’s crossing up Westbrook and pulling off moves like this:

Eight – Consistent: Danny Green might be quietly having the best 3-point shooting season in Raptors history. Green won’t come close to matching Lowry’s franchise record of 238 makes from last season, but Lowry has also never been this automatic. Green hit another six treys tonight, which brings him up to 44.6 percent from deep on the season. At this rate, Green will finish with the highest 3-point percentage of any Raptors player in franchise history.

Nine – Concern: The Raptors have an issue with containing dribble penetration, and that might be their only weakness on defence. Westbrook and Schroder repeatedly created problems by getting into the paint, and even the likes of Ish Smith gave the Raptors fits with his slashing ability. Fortunately, most of the East playoff teams don’t have a shifty guard who can exploit this flaw – with the exception of Kyrie Irving and the Celtics.

Ten – Passive: Marc Gasol only took one shot tonight, and that was an uncontested dunk with 98 seconds left in the game. Gasol did a great job of picking the Thunder apart with his passing to start, but he just didn’t feature at all in the offence. Gasol’s unselfishness is commendable, but the Raptors need Gasol to establish himself as a scoring threat to truly maximize his playmaking.

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