The season is going really well.
It’s hard to argue otherwise, not with the terrible times in Tampa as a backdrop, when the air went out of the balloon around the all-star break and the Toronto Raptors coasted in slow, sad circles to the draft lottery.
Who knows where the Raptors will go, but considering where they were? No one can complain.
But it could be better. The Raptors are the hottest team in the Eastern Conference since the New Year, with multiple wins over some of the East’s best teams.
But there have been some they would love to have back. The Detroit Pistons have 12 wins this season, but two have come against Toronto. The Portland Trail Blazers are lottery-bound but they have one of the six losses the Raptors have given up in 2022 and two this season.
And the Oklahoma City Thunder?
They’ve been engaged on one of the most determined tanking efforts the NBA has ever seen, but that didn’t prevent them from splitting the season series with the Raptors a year ago or breaking the Raptors’ hearts with a three-pointer in the final seconds from Mike Muscala back on Dec. 8.
With a six-game winning streak on the line and having run the gauntlet of teams the Raptors are trying to catch in the playoff race or hold off, it was fair to wonder if Toronto would lift their foot off the gas, even a little.
They didn’t. The Raptors took care of business against an OKC team that is more interested in lottery balls than wins for the moment. The 117-98 win extended Toronto’s winning streak to a season-best seven games — the longest in the Eastern Conference — and lifted their record to 30-23, their seven games above the .500 mark a season-best also.
The Raptors pulled within two games of the Philadelphia 76ers for fifth place in the East while the Thunder dropped to 17-37.
Once again, the Raptors starters carried the weight as all five scored 15 or point points, led by Pascal Siakam who scored 21 of his game-high 27 points in the first half, while adding 16 rebounds and five assists. Fred VanVleet chipped in with 21 points and six assists while Gary Trent Jr. had 16 points and five steals.
Toronto shot 51.1 per cent from the floor and 13-of-35 from deep while holding the Thunder to 41.4 per cent and 14-of-47.
Montreal’s Lou Dort had 15 points and four assist for the Thunder, but also had six turnovers.
There were plenty of excuses if the Raptors wanted to allow themselves to be distracted, with Thursday’s 3 p.m. NBA trade deadline pending.
There have been some significant moves across the league, but sources say the Raptors moves — most likely a deal centred on Goran Dragic’s expiring contract and possibly a draft pick — will likely come down to the last minute, if they happen.
A quick glance at the box score indicated where the Raptors need the most help: Toronto came into the game leading the NBA in the proportion of their scoring that comes from their starters and there was no deviation from that Wednesday. With the Raptors leading by 14 with five minutes to play, 87 of Toronto’s 102 points had come from their starters.
The Thunder bench was outscoring the Raptors bench by 47-15.
We’ll see if Raptors general manager Bobby Webster can extend head coach Nick Nurse’s lineup soon enough.
But regardless of who or how, the Raptors made a point of addressing their history with some of the league’s lesser-thans, OKC included.
“These guys have beaten us already, we’ve had great games with them,” said Raptors head coach Nick Nurse. “I just reminded our guys of that. Listen, this is a great challenge for us tonight… to keep this thing rolling, to get ourselves ready to play.
“I gave the team a lot of credit going into Charlotte [on Monday], who was reeling a little bit, and we were rolling, and we came out really ready at the start.”
The Raptors did it again. Their cause was aided because Canadian star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander missed his sixth straight game with a sprained ankle, but even more so because Siakam doesn’t seem to care who he plays against these days, he’s out to crush them all.
The power-forward-turned point guard was too much for the young Thunder who were mostly pylons for him once the ball went up.
He was able to get to the rim at ease against OKC, scoring 15 first-quarter points on five lay-ups, a floater and a triple. The Thunder chose not to double Siakam the minute he put it on the floor — a departure from how he’s been covered most of this season — and he punished them.
The Raptors led 34-22 after 12 minutes and were shooting 68.4 per cent from the floor in no small part because Siakam was 7-of-8.
Toronto slipped a little bit in the second quarter, especially in the final minutes when the Raptors got sloppy with the ball as they fumbled away seven turnovers that the Thunder were able to turn into 11 points.
The Raptors led by as much as 16 midway through the period but consecutive turnovers by VanVleet and Anunoby helped spark 9-0 run just before halftime that was quelled by a Trent Jr. triple on the Raptors last possession.
It wasn’t a perfect first half, but the Raptors were good enough for long enough stretches that they led 59-51 to start the second half.
Not surprisingly it was VanVleet who made sure Toronto set the proper tone from there. After Dort hit a quick jumper to start the second half and cut the Raptor lead to seven, VanVleet hit two quick triples, stepped into a jumper and then hit a third triple to push Toronto’s lead to 17 midway through the third.
The Raptors urgency waned at times. The Thunder have the league’s most anemic offence on the season and struggle even more without Gilgeous-Alexander in the lineup, so it was understandably tempting.
But Toronto held the Thunder to 39 per cent shooting through three quarters, enjoyed an 87-72 lead to start the fourth and were able to coast home from there.
“I’ve been saying this to you guys all year,” said Nurse. “It doesn’t really matter who we’re playing. We’ve got to go play well. And we’ve got a chance to beat anybody… [So] we’re just trying to zero in on continuing to polish up some of the things that we’ve been doing and be who we are.”
They’ll get another chance to have their resolve tested against the Houston Rockets Thursday night, the last-place team in the West.
