Thunder Gets Back on Winning Track in Rout Over Raptors
The Oklahoma City Thunder are back to 2-2 after beating the Toronto Raptors 108-88 on Tuesday night. Russell Westbrook scored 19 points despite a sore shoulder. Serge Ibaka added 17 for the Thunder as well.
The Thunder, who started the year 1-2 and have been maligned for trading James Harden at the beginning of the season, raced out to a 30-17 lead and never looked back. The defending Western Conference Champions built their lead as high as 29 points at one point. ”I thought the start was a big part of our win tonight,” Thunder head coach Scott Brooks said. ”We’ve talked about this the last few days. We’re just starting to get in a defensive mindset.”
Kevin Durant and Kevin Martin added 15 points each for Thunder. Turnovers plagued them in their first two losses this season. On Tuesday they cut down on those greatly.
The Raptors fell to 1-3 on the season. Jonas Valanciunas led them with 18 points. Andrea Bargnani had 16 also. ”We knew they would come out aggressive, focused and we had to meet that type of intensity and we didn’t,” the Raptors coach Dwayne Casey said. ”That was disappointing for our young team, but it was a learning experience.” Their leading scorer going into the game was Kyle Lowry, who Westbrook locked down and held to two points on the night.
The Thunder had six players in double figures altogether, something they had been sorely needing since Harden departed. The Thunder also had 42 points in the paint and won the rebounding battle 46-37. Next up for the Thunder is a visit to Chicago to take on the Bulls on Thursday. The Raptors will face the Dallas Mavericks tonight.
