It was the Toronto Raptors’ first night of a back-to-back, but it wasn’t really about them. mostly as a result of their opponent, the Oklahoma City Thunder. That meant Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Lu Dort, two Canadians, were in town.
When SGA collected his prize for being the 2023 Canadian Athlete of the Year earlier in the day, his day officially began.
Naturally, Toronto had a long list of injuries going into this game. They were without their usual starting five players, with Gary Trent Jr. being a late scratch. Tonight, the Raptors were without seven players in all.
Trent Jr. was joined on the injured list by Scottie Barnes, Jakob Poeltl, RJ Barrett, Immanuel Quickley, Chris Boucher, and DJ Carton.
They were 17.5 point underdogs going into the game, a record for the team at home.
Bruce Brown, Javon Freeman-Liberty, Gradey Dick, Ochai Agbaji, and Kelly Olynyk were the starting lineup for the Raptors.
Remarkably (?) this starting group fared well against OKC early on; at one point in the first quarter, they led 26-16. At the end of the first quarter, they led OKC 35–28.
In addition, Gradey Dick broke his personal record for most points scored in a quarter by reaching 13 points before the end of the quarter. His prior best for a single quarter was eleven points.
In the second quarter, the Thunder ramped up their game and overtook the Raptors. Pretty early in the quarter, Chet Holmgren led the club into double digit score.
When Garrett Temple did eventually get onto the court, he made a fast three-pointer (#PlayTempleMore). With 14 points, two rebounds, and two assists through the first half, Kelly Olynyk led the club in scoring. On the other side, SGA and Holmgren both had 12, while Gradey had 13.
OKC maintained their advantage throughout the second quarter, leading at halftime, 62-56.
In the third quarter, Oklahoma City just dominated. For the most of the third quarter, Chet Holmgren, the rookie, led the Thunder in points. Without Victor Wembanyama, he would undoubtedly stand a solid chance of earning rookie of the year.
With 19 points entering the last 12 minutes of play, SGA would close out the third quarter leading his squad in scoring.
In the fourth quarter, the Raptors got it to within 10. Despite his team’s advantage, SGA played late into the game to continue entertaining his home fans. He eventually settled down for the evening during the final few minutes.
He finished with 23 points, 8 assists, and 7 rebounds to lead the Thunder.
In his absence, the Thunder managed to contain the struggling Raptors and prevent them from having a chance to make the game close.
Gradey Dick led the Raptors with 21 points, falling just short of his career high of 22 points in one contest. He hit 4–7 from three and added five points and one assist to his stat line.
Despite just being selected in June of last year, he also happened to be the Raptor with the longest duration on the court once again.
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