CAUGHT IN THE CROWD
THUNDER116, RAPTORS109
Serge Ibaka, centre, had plenty of company under the Thunder basket with Nerlens Noel, left, and Markieff Morris looking for the loose ball. Ibaka had 11 points against his first NBA team. The Thunder overcame a 10-point halftime deficit to win 116-109 and split two games between the teams this week.
Turnovers prove too much for Raps to overcome
The Raptors kicked the ball all over Scotiabank Arena on Friday night and watched the Oklahoma City Thunder make more three-pointers in one game than any Toronto opponent had in this NBA season.
The results were predictable as they dropped a 116-109 decision and split a home-andhome series with the Thunder.
Toronto’s 22 turnovers were just shy of the 23 they committed in a double-overtime game in Washington in January while Oklahoma City’s 20 threepointers were the most by a Toronto opponent this season, telling the statistical tale of the entertaining, intense game.
Kawhi Leonard led Toronto with 37 points while Pascal Siakam had 25. The Raptors played without point guard Kyle Lowry, still nursing a sprained right ankle.
Paul George had 28 points for the Thunder, who got an unexpected boost when Dennis Schroder pumped in 26 off the bench. Russell Westbrook had 16 points, 13 assists and 12 rebounds for Oklahoma City.
The Raptors had a chance at dramatic comeback in the final minute but a couple of tough calls — an offensive foul on Leonard and an equally debatable foul seconds later on Siakam — derailed the late bid.
Toronto had beaten the Thunder in overtime on Wednesday and each team made its usual adjustments on the off day.
“You try to wrack your brains about what adjustments are they going to make, what are they going to do different,” Toronto coach Nick Nurse said. “They obviously saw the defensive schemes we’re going to be using. They did a pretty good job, I thought, adjusting to them as the game went on.
“I think they’ll obviously see a lot of actions that we used to get certain guys in position to score last night and try to take them out. It’s like playoffs.”
á Staying hot: Danny Green made five three-pointers in the first half on Friday, eventually finishing with 19 points on 6for-11 shooting from beyond the arc. It continued a recent trend for the veteran, who had been a scorching 12-for-21 from three in Toronto’s three previous games.
á A matter of tolerance: Lowry will eventually not be sore and that’s when he’ll return to the Raptors lineup. “I think we’ve again checked it every way we can check it so there’s nothing really there other than some soreness,” Nurse said. “I think we’re saying next week some time and day to day all in the same sentence. Just whenever that soreness goes away and he feels like he’s ready to go, he’s ready to go.”
á History lesson: The Wednesday-Friday home-and-home with Oklahoma City marked the 30th time the Raptors have played consecutive games against the same team in their history. They have swept seven series, been swept nine times and split 14. The last home-andhome they played was against Philadelphia in December, 2017.
á An odd line: Norm Powell put up one of the weird stat lines of the season. While he managed to grab a career-high 11 rebounds in just 17 minutes, he missed the only three shots he took and finished scoreless with one assist.
á Up next: It’s the final visit of the season from the Charlotte Hornets, Sunday at 6 p.m.