NBA Update: Toronto Raptors pull off a third quarter surge to beat Durant-less Thunders
The Oklahoma City Thunders entered the court Friday night hoping to win their eighth straight match on the road against an Eastern Conference opponent as they faced the Toronto Raptors at the Air Canada Centre.
Andrea Bargnani and his team had other ideas though.
The Italian superstar led the way for the Raptors with his first double-double of the season, scoring 26 points and grabbing 12 rebounds as Toronto Raptors took down a Kevin Durant-less Oklahoma City Thunder squad.
The loss marks the first time that the Oklahoma City have lost in four games this season without Durant, the league’s leading scorer at 27.3 points per game. Durant, who is the face of the Oklahoma City franchise, had to sit out in a second game running
due to a sprained left knee.
Oklahoma raced to 4-0 lead with in the first minute of the match but Toronto soon took control with a 12-2 run within a span of four minutes. The Thunders slowly inched their way back thereafter but the Raptors always remained in the lead and a DeMar DeRozan
layup in the final minute ensured that the Raptors hold an advantage at 28-25 going into the second.
Andrea Bargnani who scored 10 points in the first quarter was kept scoreless by the Thunders in the second as the Raptors scoring rate declined. Eric Maynor slipped in triple pointer to tie the score at 32 and a Nick Collison running tip shot gave Oklahoma
the lead.
With the score at 52-50 in their advantage, the Thunders initiated a 7-2 surge in the last 1:03 minutes of the period to carry a 59-52 edge into the break.
The Raptors were on fire coming into the second half and they reeled off a 17-4 spurt at the start of the third quarter, including six points from Bargnani and huge dunks by Johnson and Weems.
The Raptors not only ran through the guards of the Thunders in the third quarter scoring 34 points but also put in a marathon defensive effort at their end, holding the Thunders to just a six of 21 shooting.
That was the period where the Thunders lost it.
Taking an 86-77 advantage in fourth quarter, the Raptors continued to push the ball and controlled the tempo of the game. Ahead by nine points with 1:41 left in the game, Bargnani scored two consecutive shots and was followed by a Leandro Barbosa driving
layup to give the Raptors a 111-96 lead, their biggest of the match.
With Andrea Bargnani leading the offense five Toronto players notched up double figures. Leandro Barbosa made 22 points while DeMar DeRozan and Amir Johnson had 14 apiece and Sony Weems also chipped in with 10 points. Jose Calderon also made an impression
with 15 assists and 8 points.
Oklahoma City Thunders whose hopes were lying with Russell Westbrook in Durant’s absence shot at a paltry 43.7 percent as the third-year point guard was held to 20 point only making nine of 19 shots. James Harden came off the bench to score 20 points while
Jeff Green finished with 17.
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