Coverage of Wednesday night's Thunder-Toronto game.
The Thunder's two best defenders jumped on pump fakes in the first quarter.
First, Paul George went flying past Toronto guard Fred
VanVleet on the perimeter. He got lucky. VanVleet decided to pass rather than take the open shot, and he threw the ball right into OKC center
Steven Adams' hands. Terrance Ferguson wasn't so fortunate. He did the same thing to Danny
Green, and Green drained his third 3-pointer of the night.
In a game Oklahoma City would eventually push to overtime and lose 123-114, the Thunder's shaky 3-point defense helped the Raptors shoot 53 percent from beyond the arc in the first half Wednesday to take a 63-55 lead at halftime. Toronto made 5-of-8 (62.5 percent) from the 3-point line in the first quarter.
Thunder coach Billy Donovan often says that sometimes other teams just make tough shots. He puts more stock in his team's ability to contest shots. But Wednesday, OKC struggled to do that, too.
The Raptors took a 58-44 lead in the second quarter in one of those instances. The Thunder's defensive rotation broke down to leave Pascal
Siakam wide open – with barely anyone on his side of the court – in the left corner. Adams was guarding Marc Gasol under the basket, but when Gasol kicked a pass out to Siakam, Adams was the closest person to the ball. He tried to get out to the perimeter, but even that gave Siakam plenty of time to drain a 3-pointer.
Noel returns
About a minute into the second quarter, Thunder center Nerlens Noel drained a turnaround jump shot for his second bucket of the period.
Noel returned to the court Wednesday after missing one game for a left quad contusion. He went on to score six points in the first three minutes of the second quarter.
Noel would have scored more if he made any of his free throws. His third attempt from the charity stripe practically defied gravity as it rattled around the rim and flew back out. The crowd groaned. But it wasn't just him. The Thunder went 7-17 from the charity stripe in the first half.
Back in OKC
Former Thunder assistant coach Adrian Griffin returned to OKC for the first time since taking a job with the Raptors. He spent two seasons as an assistant coach with the Thunder.
“The biggest thing is he's a real mentor-type guy for the players,” Raptors coach Nick
Nurse said. “He's just such a sound person. He's a good dude, he's a hard-working guy, sets a great example. Very level-headed. Not emotional, he's even-keeled. And saying all that, his defensive acumen and package that he brings is really outstanding. When he's up there giving our guys the defensive game plan they are locked in and listening and understanding and it's real solid.”
Nurse said his only worry was that Griffin was so good the Raptors might lose him to another team that wanted to hire him as its head coach.
“He's that good,” Nurse said.