The Toronto Raptors battled hard but came up empty handed against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Toronto was missing all five of their starters, as they drop their 9th game in a row.
Toronto’s injury report included Immanuel Quickley (personal reasons), Scottie Barnes (left hand), Jakob Peoltl (left pinkie), RJ Barrett (personal), Chris Boucher (right knee) DJ Carton (right ankle) and Gary Trent Jr. (back spasms).
The Raptors rolled out a starting lineup of Bruce Brown, Javon Freeman-Liberty, Gradey Dick, Ochai Agbaji and Kelly Olynyk.
Leading the way for the shorthanded Raptors was rookie Gradey Dick. He had a nice bounce back performance and started this game hot scoring 11 points in the first 7 minutes.
Dick finished the game with 21 points and 5 rebounds on 8-15 shooting from the field and 4-7 from three. He finished one point shy of his career-high.
Olynyk had 16 points and Jordan Nwora has 12 from off the bench.
The Raptors actually won the first quarter 35-28 and at one point they carried an 11-point lead.
Toronto even got within 6 points in the fourth quarter but then the Thunder pulled away.
The Raptors committed a season-worst 27 turnovers. Oklahoma City scored 37 points off those turnovers, the most Toronto has allowed in any game this season.
Canadian Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 23 points in his only regular-season trip to to his hometown. Chet Holmgren backed him up with 18 points and 10 rebounds.
Jalen Williams scored 20 points and Kenrich Williams along with Cason Wallace each had 12 as the Western Conference-leading Thunder won their fourth straight game.
The Raptors are now 1-10 in March.
Next on tap
The Raptors will be in action tomorrow night on the second night of a back-to-back when they take on the Washington Wizards for the third time this season.
The Wizards are coming off an upset win against the Sacramento Kings.
The Wizards are currently favourites against the Raptors who are expected to be severely shorthanded once again.
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