The Toronto Raptors Rally In 4th Quarter To Give Oklahoma City Thunder Their First Loss At Home In A 104-98 Victory.
Coming into tonight’s game, the Oklahoma City Thunder were the hottest team in the NBA on a 9 game winning-streak. They were unfortunately victims to the 2nd night of a back-to-back schedule. Saturday, they defeated the San Antonio Spurs on the road in a 113-100 victory.
Russell Westbrook had 31 points the previous night, and would carry his impressive play into tonight leading all scorers with 27 points, 9 boards and 5 assist. Co-captain, Kevin Durant struggled most of tonight, shooting 5-16 with 24 points (12 from the line) to finish the night.
OKC saw point relief from the bench collectively scoring 33 points; as Serge Ibaka, Kendrick Perkins and Thabo Sefolosha combined for only 14 points. Toronto had moderate scoring from their bench, but the starters led by Kyle Lowry would just out hustle and most importantly outplay the Thunder in the 4th quarter.
Lowry finished as the highpoint man for Toronto scoring 22, going 3-6 beyond the arch. Oklahoma City were down 6 at halftime and came out after the break to outscore Toronto 28-13 in third. The Raptors would soon go on a 29-14 run in the 4th to pull off the big victory, giving the Thunder their first home loss of the season.
OKC now drops to 2nd place in the west behind the Portland Trailblazers; while the 4th place Toronto Raptors in the east (you are reading that correctly), improve to a 11-14 record.