The Toronto Raptors were blown out by the Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday night 129-92.
Raptors get a reality check
The Raptors came into this game riding a two-game winning streak and their morale was high. Then they ran into a juggernaut in the Thunder. This was not pretty. The Thunder jumped out to a 13-3 lead and never looked back. They extended the lead to 20 points in the second quarter and 30 points in the third. The Raptors are a young rebuilding team so efforts like this are bound to happen especially when going up against a true championship contender. However, Toronto hadn’t been demolished like this since opening night against the Cleveland Cavaliers. They were competitive in most of their games. But the Thunder proved to be way too much in this spot. The Thunder’s defense was aggressive and had more combined steals and blocks than the Raptors had field goals made in the first-half. Scottie Barnes couldn’t get downhill and settled for jumpshots. He finished with just 12 points but did have 12 rebounds and 8 assists. RJ Barrett had an inefficient night finishing with 17 points.
Jakob Poeltl is irreplaceable
Poeltl isn’t the Raptors best player but he is a valuable piece who stabilizes the team. The Raptors went 4-28 without Poeltl last season and the Raptors did not look good without him against the Thunder. Poeltl impacts both ends of the floor and the Raptors have a lack of depth behind him. Bruno Fernando started for Toronto before the team decided to go with Jonathan Mogbo to start the second-half as their small-ball center. If the Raptors decide they want to be bad and tank this season, then trading Poeltl will help them accomplish that. Without Poeltl, the Raptors are not a good team.
Jonathan Mogbo career-high
One bright spot for the Raptors in this game was Mogbo. He saw extended playing time with Poeltl out and got the start in the second-half. Mogbo had the best game of his career thus far putting up a career-high 17 points on 6-for-10 shooting from the field. He also got to the free throw line 6 times, hitting 4 of them. Mogbo had the best offensive performance of the night for Toronto.
Next on tap
It won’t get any easier for the Raptors as they host Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks on Dec. 7.
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