NBA Recap: Toronto Raptors sting the Oklahoma City Thunder, 95-93
Toronto Raptors outplayed the Oklahoma City Thunder by 95-93 on Sunday night at Oklahoma City Arena. The decisive stunner came when only 1.4 seconds were remaining in the game as Raptors’ Amir Johnson scored an ultimate layup
and left Thunder shattered.
With this win, not only did the Raptors snap a six game winning streak of the Oklahoma City Thunder they also sustained their winning form and captured their second consecutive win in the last three days. They beat the Washington
Wizards 116-107 on Friday.
Bargnani scored 33 points, the last time Raps won and on this occasion too, Bargnani did not let his team down, scoring 23 points with five rebounds. Leandro Barbosa came off the bench and posted 19 points in Raptors’ dramatic
win, while DeMar DeRozan added 16, Reggie Evans scored 13 and James Johnson gathered 12 points for the Raptors.
The Thunder on the other hand, were uncharacteristically off colour both from within and beyond the arc. Talking to the media after the game, their coach Scott Brooks commented on his teams’ performance.
We took some quick shots and some perimeter shots," "Normally what we do is attack the basket, try to get to the free throw line and make plays from the inside-out. We missed a lot of shots that we normally make and we've been
making a lot lately."
The Oklahoma’s James Harden scored 23 points but his fine performance could not change the result for his team. Russell Westbrook posted 22 and Kevin Durant gathered 20 points. Kendrick Perkins showed some early spirit in the game
but only able to score just five points for the Thunder.
The first quarter ended in Raptors’ favour 25-22 as they dominated and took an early advantage with super athleticism and great confidence.
But these three points’ lead only remained for a while as the score was soon levelled at 25-25 when Oklahoma’s James Harden scored a three point zooter early in the second quarter.
The first half of the game ended at 48-44 giving the Raptors a four points’ lead.
Raps continued to press on in the second half as well and took a 10 points’ clear advantage at 76-66 at the culmination of the third quarter. James Harden however stepped up his game at that point to nip the Raptor’s surge and
soon his teammates Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook followed as the Thunder levelled the score at 88-88 with three minutes remaining in the game.
At that point of the game, the Raptors combined themselves in and went for the final blow. Leandro Barbosa and Amir Johnson scored five points in quick successions and stunned the Oklahoma City Thunder with an excellent 95-93 win.
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