Oklahoma City Thunder vs. Toronto Raptors 02/28/10

[slick_watts]

Russell Westbrook / Thabo Sefolosha / Kevin Durant / Jeff Green / Nenad Krstic

VS.




Jarrett Jack / DeMar DeRozan / Hedo Turkoglu / Andrea Bargnani / Rasho Nesterovic

Matchup

I don't particularly like our matchup against these guys.. quick PG, shooting forwards.. athletic swing man. We do a lot better against plodding, half court teams. If Toronto gets hot from deep, it's tough to keep up with them.

That said, Chris Bosh didn't even make the trip to OKC / HOU so he will not be available. OKC's considerable luck catching teams with injured star players continues. Rasho Nesterovic will start in place of Bosh, though I read a report somewhere that coach Triano is considering starting Reggie Evans.

The Raptors are probably in competition for worst defensive team in the league. They are second worst at forcing turnovers, they're 25th at OREB%, and they foul a lot. Two of our bigger weaknesses (DREB and TOV) shouldn't be much of a concern against this team.

The defense has to be on point, though, and ready to close out on the three point shooting. The Raptors without Bosh gave Cleveland all they could handle in a high scoring game. We don't want to turn this into the Knicks game all over again.

Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant both have favorable matchups. Russ can get into the lane whenever he wants against this team, and their defensive discipline isn't good enough to chase ball rotations to shooters. Kevin Durant should do well with whoever is guarding him on the Raptors roster, hopefully he takes it to the hole religiously as the Raptors like to send you to the line.

Jeff Green gets a low post reprieve against Andrea Bargnani.. he's gotta keep Bargs in front of him and not let him get open looks from 3pt range.. long two pointers is what you want Bargnani to be attempting.


Some Numbers

Russell Westbrook has a chance at putting a nice finishing touch on a terrific February against the Raptors. 10 or more assits would assure him of his first of hopefully many 10 assist months.

A Question

Will this be another Knicks / Suns style gunslinging game or can we get the pace down to where we feel comfortable?

[fallacy]

Raps in 4

[wiff]

Trap game, but I still think OKC wins this game. I'm looking forward to seeing DeRozan play.

[slick_watts]

DeRozan reminds me so much of Desmond Mason.

[onions17]

this should be a blow out. Raps will NOT be able to stop OKC. If teams plays aggresively on offense, the raps show no resistance (unless it is 4th quarter at home). And without Bosh, our offense goes through slumps.

edit: please check out the site in my sig and add someone from OKC

[slick_watts]

Can't believe how well Russ is playing. Unbelievable the last month.

[dream_catcher_9]

Great game, but Toronto was missing Bosh and arent good defensively......

Looking at our schedule we need to go on a run here before the San Antonio game because thats when things get really tough.

[Joel Embust]

Ibaka 13/10 with 4 blocks in 24 minutes of action

[wiff]

Ya Ibaka played great. Russ was great 14pts, 10assists, Oto's, 4steals, 1 block and only 3rebs? Russ where is the borderline triple double I am getting accustomed to? Well I guess I'll have to chalk that up to just 30minutes tonight.

Sure they were without Bosh but this is the way they shoud beat a team like Toronto when they are missing their star.