THUNDER STRUCK
Westbrook leads charge as Raptors suffer rare back-to-back losses
Russell Westbrook put up 30 points in OKC’s 124-107 victory over the visiting Raptors on Wednesday. More,
OKLAHOMA CITY— A starting unit that had been among the NBA’s best for almost a month crashed here Thursday night, leaving the Raptors oh-for-a-small-road trip.
Out-played by a wide margin to start the game, the second half and the end of the second quarter after being provided a double-digit lead, Toronto was beaten 124-107 by the surging Oklahoma City Thunder at a typically loud and boisterous Chesapeake Energy Arena.
The loss was the second on successive nights for the Raptors, who fell to 23-10 on the season; it’s the first time they’ve lost back-to-back games since Nov. 22 and 24, when they were beaten at New York and then Indiana.
The Raptors had won12 of13 games before losing on consecutive nights in Dallas and here.
Toronto’s starters dug a 12-point hole for the team in the opening quarter, a group of backups eventually wiped that out and provided a 12-point lead in the second quarter that disappeared in the final three minutes.
The Oklahoma City starters then extended that lead to 14 in the opening few minutes of the third quarter and the Raptors never made another serious run.
Russell Westbrook led the Thunder with 30 points, 13 assists and eight rebounds, jawing with the Raptors bench after a handful of baskets and getting into a bit of a tussle with Jonas Valanciunas in the first half.
Paul George added 33 points and Carmelo Anthony and Stephen Adams had 18 each as Oklahoma City won for the sixth straight time and continued its ascent through the Western Conference.
“You’ve got a world of talent, basically an all-star team with Carmelo and Paul George and, of course, Russell,” Raptors coach Dwane Casey said before the game. “It was a mat- ter of time before the chemistry came together, they weren’t going to continue to be out of sync the entire year.”
The lone bright spot for the Raptors was C.J. Miles, who made six threepointers on his way to a 20-point night. Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan were a combined 7-for-26 from the floor and Valaciunas added 17.
The Raptors did get a look at Patrick Patterson in a Thunder jersey for the first time since the veteran forward left Toronto as a free agent last summer. Seemingly recovered now from off-season knee surgery, Patterson has seen his minutes ramp up in the last five games as he becomes more comfortable in OKC’s system.
Patterson was matched up on the odd occasion with Serge Ibaka and Casey said before the game he expected each to be a bit more energetic than usual.
“There’s something to that, I think you get a little bit motivated,” Casey said. “I’ve always thought that any time a player plays against his former team, there’s a little extra juice, extra pep.”
Patterson played 17 scoreless minutes while Ibaka, the only Raptors starter to be acknowledged by the fans during the player introductions, had seven points in 27 minutes for the Raptors.