By Michael Doutey
The Oklahoma City Thunder earned one of their best wins of the season Sunday afternoon with a 132-125 victory over the Raptors in Toronto. The Raptors are one of the best home teams in the NBA, entering today’s game with an impressive 29-5 home record. But the Thunder found a way to win in a tightly contested game. The game was back and forth in the fourth quarter until the final minute of the game when OKC was able to garner enough separation for the win. Here are today’s five observations.
1. Russ’ Take Over
Russ just took over in this one. He ended up scoring 37 points on 15-22 shooting and he took and made one three. But Russ did a great job of attacking and the Raptors had no answer to stop it. Russ put the team on his back, especially in the fourth. He scored 13 points on 6-9 shooting, including a mid-range bank shot to ice the game with 12.3 seconds left to put OKC up by four. Russ completed the triple-double, his fifth straight, with 13 rebounds and 14 assists. Russ was incredible in this one.
2. Two Plays That OKC Benefited From
In tight games there are always things that go the winning teams way. For OKC, there were two moments where the Thunder really caught a break. The first was with 3:18 left to go in the game. Kyle Lowry fouled out with a dumb play, where he backed into Corey Brewer for an easy moving screen call. The Thunder had the luxury of going against the Raptors without their point guard down the stretch. The next came with 2:08 to go. That’s when Carmelo Anthony fouled Delon Wright and then foolishly picked up a technical foul for arguing the call. Wright made both free throws, but DeMar DeRozan missed the technical free throw. OKC lead by two when it could have easily been just one, which would have changed some of how the final two minutes went.
3. Steven Adams Came Up Huge
Adams has been excellent this season and he was phenomenal in this one. Adams was all over the place, even having to come out of the game in the third when Serge Ibaka incidentally kneed Adams in the family jewels. Why does this keep happening to poor Steve? But Adams came back in the game. Steven scored 25 points on 10-13 shooting (5-9 from the free throw line), grabbed eight rebounds (five on the offensive glass) and had four assists. Adams was sensational and the Raptors couldn’t do anything about it.
4. Answering the Raptors Runs
The Thunder answered two runs where the game could have gotten away from OKC. The first was a massive run by the Raps second unit. To start the second quarter, Toronto went on a 20-4 run and when the Thunder starters came back in OKC was down 10. But the Thunder went on a run of their own, taking a 66-64 lead into halftime. But then the Raps went on another little run. OKC trailed by five early in the third, but OKC responded and both teams went back and forth with the lead the rest of the way. OKC didn’t have a solid lead until under a minute was left in the game.
5. Western Conference Standings
The Thunder now are sitting in a nice spot in the standings. OKC is 4th in the West, just a game-and-a-half behind the 3rd seeded Portland Trail Blazers. OKC hold a nice two game lead over Utah (5th), New Orleans (6th) and San Antonio (7th). The Thunder also holds a two-and-a-half game lead over the Timberwolves who are in 8th.
The Thunder move to 43-29 on the season and have won nine of their last 11 games. OKC is back in action on Tuesday night in Boston. Tip is set for 7 p.m. inside TD Garden.
