The Toronto Raptors kicked off a road-heavy stretch of their schedule with a convincing 112-102 victory against Russell Westbrook and the new-look Oklahoma City Thunder.
Here are five takeaways from Wednesday’s matchup:
Superstars get their shine on:
Ahead of Wednesday’s game, much was made of the battle between two of the NBA’s top scorers in DeMar DeRozan and Westbrook. The two stars certainly lived up to the billing. After failing to hit the 30-point mark against the Sacramento Kings on Sunday, DeRozan exploded for a game-high 37. Westbrook was his usual jack-of-all-trades self, dropping 36 points to go along with seven rebounds and seven assists.
Fellow all-star Kyle Lowry struggled to find his shooting stroke early, but came alive in the second half with some timely threes. He hit a dagger triple with just over three minutes left that put the Raptors up by 10. Lowry made some serious eyes at a triple-double, scoring 19 points while dishing out 13 dimes and grabbing nine boards in the victory.
Running on reserve:
Playing a couple men down, the Raptors got a huge lift from their second unit in this one. Each reserve made major contributions on the floor whether it was through scoring, or an area not necessarily quantified in the box score. Overall, Toronto’s bench players poured in 38 points.
Lucas Nogueira, the biggest beneficiary of Jonas Valanciunas’s injury, altered numerous shots at the rim with his size and frustrated Thunder players by using his length to disrupt passing lanes. He also provided offensive value, finishing off a number of lob passes for easy dunks. Coach Dwane Casey clearly liked what he saw from his young centre as Bebe replaced starter Jakob Poeltl to begin the third quarter. The 24-year-old Brazilian is making a strong case to be inserted into the starting lineup for however long Valanciunas is sidelined.
When it comes to who will get the bulk of the minutes moving forward, Casey insinuated he will roll with whichever big has the hot hand that night.
“Lucas was a plus-30. That was huge for us tonight, coming off the bench and giving us a big plug like that,” Casey said. “The other night I thought Jakob outplayed him but tonight it was Lucas’s night and that’s probably the way it’s going to be, a two-headed monster with those guys.”
No Ross, no problem:
The Raptors received some rough news prior to tip-off as Terrence Ross was a late scratch due to an injured finger on his shooting hand. With the Raptors struggling from beyond the three-point arc, Ross and his perimeter shooting figured to be sorely missed. Instead, the Raptors broke out of their three-point shooting drought, drilling 11 of their 25 attempts from long range.
“We’ve kept working on it and I think this is the start of something, hopefully,” Lowry told reporters after the game. “We’re not going to get too excited about one good shooting game from three but we shot it well tonight, everybody made shots.”
As expected, Norman Powell slid into Ross’s spot in the rotation. As has become the norm (no pun intended), Powell brought energy on both ends with his steady defence and willingness to drive to the basket on the offensive side. The sophomore swingman was given the tall task of checking Westbrook for much of the evening, which lessened the burden on Lowry.
Slow start:
The Raptors were sluggish out of the gate, falling behind 12-0 and committing five turnovers in the first five minutes of the game. That early deficit figured to be a tough mountain to climb against a Thunder team that ranked third in the NBA in defensive efficiency entering play Wednesday. Toronto’s offence laboured early, with many of their possessions ending in awkward shots late in the clock.
Instead of caving, the Raptors quickly righted the ship and managed to chip away at the Thunder lead, trailing 27-20 at the end of the first quarter. DeRozan was the main reason the Raptors were able to get back in the game, dropping 11 points in the period.
“We’ve been trying to be more conscious of our starts,” DeRozan said sitting in the locker room with a towel over his head post-game. “It sucks when you get down like that and give a team momentum, especially here. You give them momentum and it’s tougher on us to fight back. It’s just us being resilient, not stopping and picking everything else up.”
Rookie watch:
Valanciunas missed his second straight game for the Raptors as he deals with a left knee contusion. Poeltl got the start in his place, leaving Toronto with two rookies in its first unit. Vanessa Carlton karaoke didn’t seem to spark Poeltl and Pascal Siakam as the two combined for a minus-25 rating.