Quick Reaction: Raptors 103, Thunder 101

You could tell the Thunder players weren’t particularly concerned by Mamu’s presence in the paint. Chet Holmgren took it at him with little fear and Lu Dort literally took a piggy-back ride on his shoulder. Offensively he ran pick n’ roll actions with Quickley often, sometimes popping but with his shot not falling, would usually catch on the short roll and look to make plays there. He filled lanes well and in the fourth quarter drove to the rim on a Barnes’ handoff, pulling the Raptors within three at the five minute mark. He also struggled to knock down his free throws in this one, which could have been costly given the tight margin.

Barnes struggled early against the Thunder defense, only finishing one layup that was practically wide open. Though as he usually does, he was able to stuff the stat sheet in other ways, blocking Shai Gilgeous-Alexander on a reverse layup and later getting his hand on an Aaron Wiggins three. And still, despite the lack of scoring early, he was able to pick apart the Thunder defense from the middle, finding timely cutters to open things up. He had a tough night with the officials as he was called for five fouls early in the fourth, forcing him out of the game. He checked back in not long after however, sensing the game was slipping away as the Thunder manufactured a run. His closing performance was outstanding. Setting Mamukelashvili up for a layup. Getting a dish from Shead and throwing it down. And all capped off by his defense on Holmgren on the final possession, blocking the lanky seven footer as he spun around looking to sink a game tying shot. Then, when the Thunder intentionally fouled Shead on the last possession and he missed both free throws, it was Barnes who tipped the offensive board, getting it to Quickley who put the game out of reach. That’s what makes him so good, even when he’s struggling he can make game-winning plays when he has to.

Out of the gates, Quickley seemed completely unafraid of the Thunder’s number one ranked defense. He hit two threes early, draining a catch-and-shoot from the corner and then a step back over the outstretched arm of Holmgren. Also leveraging his shooting threat into a blow-by floater off the glass. He’s had an excellent road-trip, and his process seems much better. He’s getting two feet in the paint more often, and is either finishing, drawing a foul, or kicking to a shooter. Not to mention his confidence is way up on his three-point attempts as he drained a step-back over Aaron Wiggins to put the Raptors up four at halftime. The middle of the game was fairly uneventful for Quickley, he missed a couple of good looks in the third and down the stretch of the fourth forced a jumper. But then he rained fire upon the Thunder, knocking down two MASSIVE threes in the closing minutes to push the Raptors ahead. He ultimately put them away with two free throws, putting the Raptors up four with 8.2 seconds remaining. The cherry on top of an excellent road trip.

I’m slightly surprised at how well Ingram did against the physical Thunder defense early on. He was still able to get to his spots for jumpers, firing one over the outstretched arm of the lanky Holmgren, and another fading over multiple defenders. Though as the game progressed and the physicality increased, he couldn’t get anything to fall and only scored three points in the second half, all on free throws. He had some good quick reads that led to buckets, including a drive and kick to Quickley for the lead-taking three with under two minutes to go.

Still playing in just short bursts at a time, and with his own burst still coming back, Barrett relied on his size to muscle deep into the paint for a floater. Barrett’s return lends itself well to defeating the ever-increasing zone defenses the team is seeing. He helped the Raptors overcome the Thunder zone early with a timely cut baseline and by drilling a corner three. In the third quarter it was more of the same from Barrett, driving to the rim, getting out in transition, and smacking an open three off a Shead dish. There were some untimely turnovers, a pass that sailed off the backboard, another that flew past Agbaji in the paint and then a laissez-faire transition pass that was easily picked off. He’s still ramping back up to game shape but his impact for the Raptors was solid tonight.

Not a great game from Agbaji tonight, he threw down a couple of dunks and nailed a free throw, but was otherwise used sparingly as a screener, creating a couple of open looks for his teammates. Nothing to write home about.

Dick is slowly but surely figuring things out, and tonight he knocked down two of his three attempts from behind the arc. He also does so many of the little things right, he hustles on defense, he makes timely cuts, and he is finishing well at the rim, particularly in transition. This was a good Dick game, and if he can continue to knock down multiple threes a night, he’s going to have a long career.

Shead started by scoring decently, getting his middle of the key floater to drop with a little more consistency. He also showed a rare bit of flash with a beautiful behind the back pass from under the rim all the way out to the corner where Walter drilled the three. He played a key role late as he assisted a Barnes dunk as well as a Quickley three to push the Raptors ahead. He continues to do solid things, and his pairing with Quickley is popping.

Walter missed some really open looks tonight that he needs to knock down. But he also hit a big shot down the stretch, catching a handoff and beating Gilgeous-Alexander to the rim to pull the Raptors within one. His defense on Gilgeous-Alexander tonight is also commendable, he held him to 24 points (8 below his average) and forced him to really work for every basket. In the final few minutes he did an excellent job keeping the ball out of his hands as Gilgeous-Alexander only had 1 shot attempt in the fourth quarter.

The gameplan the Raptors came into tonight was excellent. They kept the ball out of Gilgeous-Alexander’s hands as much as possible, helped on drives with excellent timing and though Dort was left open often, drilling four threes in the first half, it resulted in a Raptors’ win. This was a big back and forth battle, and Rajakovic was always quick to call a timeout, and he managed the rotation well with Barnes foul trouble. Electing to bring him back when the Thunder went on a run in the fourth was the right call. The biggest knock on Rajakovic continues to be his use of challenges. Tonight he challenged an out-of-bounds call which turned into a proximate foul being called on Toronto and two free throws for the Thunder. It cost the Raptors two points. Other than that though I think he did an excellent job against the defending champions.