Raptors deny Gilgeous-Alexander homecoming win
TORONTO — Raptors fans had it pretty good Thursday night.
They witnessed a Toronto win while still getting a show from Shai GilgeousAlexander, the Toronto-born superstar who’s the best Canadian hooper this side of Steve Nash.
SGA was near-perfect in the first half (19 points on 9-of-10 shooting), but his magic wore off in the second half of the Thunder’s 128-111 loss to the Raptors.
Toronto kept OKC at arm’s length throughout the second half.
“Toronto was on brand tonight,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. “I thought they were the aggressor.”
All five Raptors starters, led by Pascal Siakam with 25 points, scored in double digits, and Gary Trent Jr. had 23 points off the bench.
Trent made a 3-pointer to put the Raptors ahead by 20 points with five minutes left.
The Raptors’ offense hummed, but their defense deserves credit for the win.
Jakob Poeltl anchors the defense down low, and he’s surrounded by supersized wings in Siakam, Scottie Barnes and OG Anunoby.
They got in the Thunder’s grill. “We didn’t deserve that win tonight, the way we were playing for most of the night,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “They played the better 48-minute basketball game, and they won.”
Gilgeous-Alexander’s homecoming
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander faded to his right and threw in a 3-pointer to beat the halftime buzzer. With how hot he was, SGA could’ve punted it through the basket or thrown it in backward, Rumblestyle.
Up-and-unders, slices to the rim, step-throughs, fallaways — it was a showcase of skill.
But after 19 first-half points on 90% shooting, SGA scored 10 points in the second half on 3-of-9 shooting.
SGA, raised in Hamilton, Ontario, was the center of attention Thursday.
The Thunder’s pregame shootaround at Scotiabank Arena was crowded with more cameras and microphones than usual.
The Thunder is a big draw in Toronto. Not just Gilgeous-Alexander, but Lu Dort, a national team member from Montreal.
Michael Grange, who covers the Raptors for Sportsnet, wrote this when it comes to Gilgeous-Alexander’s place in Canadian basketball: “(Steve) Nash set an impossibly high bar for Canadians with NBA dreams to reach. At 24 years old, Gilgeous-Alexander is showing that he might be the person to clear it.”
Nash won two MVPs and was All-NBA seven times. No other Canadian has made All-NBA. Not even received a vote. That will change this season.
Daigneault, a popular man in Canada given his French Canadian name despite his un-French pronunciation of it, was asked about Gilgeous-Alexander putting together perhaps the best season ever by a Canadian player.
“I’m certainly not an authority on it,” Daigneault quipped … “But I know Shai cares a lot about his heritage, cares a lot about being from here, has a lot of pride. I’m sure it’s pretty special to him, and if it’s special to him it’s special to us.”
Dort was asked at shootaround if he and Gilgeous-Alexander have any sort of Canadian rivalry — Toronto vs. Montreal, if you will.
“Nah, nah,” Dort said with a smile. “He got it. He got it.”
Sam Presti, in his preseason press conference, dubbed SGA and Dort the “Molson Twins,” a combination of the Olsen twins and Molson beer, brewed in Montreal since 1786.
The Molson Twins connected in the first quarter when SGA stepped through a pair of Raptors to find Dort in the corner for a 3-pointer.
It was one of Dort’s two makes on a 2of-11 shooting night.
Thunder tip-ins
h Thunder forward Aleksej Pokusevski, who’s been out since December with a left leg fracture, played 15 minutes for the G League OKC Blue on Wednesday night. Daigneault said Poku’s workload will increase if his leg responds well.
h “Way more focused on his physical uptick than how he plays,” Daigneault said of Poku. “We know what he’s capable of playing-wise, it’s more about the body right now.”
h Daigneault was asked if Pokusevski could return to the Thunder this season: “That’s on the table,” Daigneault said. “We’d have to see where he is at the end of the rehab stint, and we’d have to see where we are. At the end of the day, he’s been out for a long time. A lot’s changed since he was here … He’s open to helping us however possible, and that’s exactly the mindset that he needs to have to give himself the best chance to get back on the court and potentially help us at some point.”
h Every Thunder player played. Lindy Waters III was the last off the bench. Waters shot 2-of-3 from deep in the fourth quarter.
h OKC and Toronto tied the season series 1-1. Both teams are 34-36 and in the play-in mix in their respective conferences.