Time: 7PM CST Location: Scotiabank Arena, Toronto Broadcast: FSOK, NBATV *** The Thunder take on the Raptors in the second of a home-and-home. Now losers of 4 straight and for a spell descending into the dregs of the playoff seedings, OKC bounced back by doing nothing at all, and now face an opportunity to exact revenge on the Raptors, who beat them at home in OT. The Thunder will look for a better start. And a better middle. And maybe the same kind of finish. But Toronto is on a roll and 30 games over .500, heading toward a 60+ win season. The preview tonight is much as the last one, but the Thunder have miles to go to right themselves before the season ends. Can they start tonight?<doc-sep>Paul George, OKC Thunder (Photo by Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images) The OKC Thunder look to get back on track facing the East’s second-seeded Raptors in a home and home series. Gameday preview breaks it down. Every season begins with my wishes the two teams left standing when all is said and done is the OKC Thunder and Toronto Raptors. That’s because I live in Toronto and my favorite player resides on the OKC Thunder. Up until recently, the odds looked good for this to potentially happen as many felt the Thunder were the one team who could take down the Warriors. But a three-game losing streak and Paul George’s shoulder looking like it might be a long-lasting issue has me rethinking this pairing. Not to mention the hype seems to be building around the Celtics and 76ers in the East and the Warriors and Rockets in the West. Yeah, I know they have to play the games but witnessing some of the recent exhibitions by officials sure does point toward the league pulling for those four teams to advance. One exciting event to look forward to this evening is the OKC Thunder are welcoming back Nick Collison and raising his jersey to the rafters at half time. This marks the first of a home and home series as OKC will travel to Toronto to compete on Friday. Heading into the 23rd week of acton the Thunder have slid to sixth although technically they are tied with the Spurs in fifth.<doc-sep>The Raptors almost let their lead slip away as the Thunder forced overtime late in the fourth quarter. Toronto prevailed in the extra period to take the first of two matchups against OKC this week The Toronto Raptors held an eight-point lead with two minutes remaining. The Oklahoma City Thunder made a late push, and the Raptors nearly coughed up the game. Without Paul George in the overtime period, the Thunder struggled to score as the Raptors prevailed to win 123-114. Toronto advances to 51-21 on the season while OKC, who are on a four-game losing skid, fall to 42-30. This is the first of two matchups between these teams this week with the second contest set for Friday at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto. Here are your takeaways from tonight's contest... Starting Steady Freddy Fred VanVleet is usually Kyle Lowry's supersub but with the number of injuries the Raptors have dealt with this season, they've needed to insert him into the starting lineup a handful of times. After tonight, it's been 24 times to be exact - and the Raptors are 20-4 in those games. Head coach Nick Nurse elected not to use VanVleet in the starting lineup in his first game back against the Pistons, in which Toronto lost. Since then, he started against the New York Knicks in a win and started tonight in a win. VanVleet made an impact from the get-go in this one and he kept it going all night long. The Wichita State-product finished with 23 points, six assists and two steals on 50.0 percent shooting from the field and 37.5 percent shooting from deep. While he's valuable as a microwave-scorer off the bench, his numbers show he's better as a starter. He averages 13.8 points, 5.7 assists and 3.4 rebounds shooting 43.4 percent from the field and 38.5 percent from three as a starter. He posts 8.7 points, 4.0 assists and 2.0 rebounds shooting 38.9 percent from the field and 37.0 percent from three as a reserve. This is by no means to suggest that VanVleet should be used to start over Lowry, or any crazy assumption like that. It's merely to say that when the Raptors are in need of a plug-in to the starting lineup when someone's out with an injury or resting, VanVleet should get strong consideration from the coaching staff should he make sense to fill in for the absent player. Stopping Paul George... for 46 minutes Kawhi Leonard had absolutely locked up Paul George for the majority of this game. Through the first 46 minutes of the game, George had 10 points on 4-for-11 shooting from the field and 1-for-7 shooting from 3-point land. Leonard had him flustered and it seemed like PG just did not have it tonight. With 2:04 on the clock, George drew a foul on a 3-point attempt. He went to the free throw line and sank all three attempts, breathing life into the MVP candidate's night. With 1:05 on the clock down by eight he put up a heat check and made it. Now trailing by five with 45 seconds on the clock, George threw up another heat check - and made it. Scoring nine straight points to bring his team back into the game in under two minutes, George made up for his early struggles. Unfortunately, his foul trouble came back to haunt him - on the very next possession a loose ball foul was called on PG, his sixth of the night. The Thunder sent the game into overtime without their star forward but ultimately fell short in the extra period. George finished with 19 points shooting 42.9 percent from the field and 30.0 percent from three. Siakam's Most Improved Player case As the season winds down, the Most Improved Player of the Year seems to be a two man race between Pascal Siakam and D'Angelo Russell. On the night after Russell scored a career-high 44 points - including 27 in the fourth quarter - in a comeback win for the Brooklyn Nets, Siakam answered promptly for his own squad. Spicy P was the difference maker for the Raptors tonight. He scored a team-high 33 points on an efficient 14-for-21 shooting from the field (66.7 percent). He grabbed 13 rebounds, notching a double-double, to go with two steals and a block. But most impressively, with Lowry out of the lineup he was asked to handle the ball and push the pace a little more than usual. Siakam turned that into a solid six assists which converted to 15 points for the Raptors. Four of his six assists resulted in made 3-pointers. That, and being asked to defend the explosive and ferocious Russell Westbrook for the majority of the game shows just how much Siakam has improved this season. He's been one of the Raptors best and most consistent players all year long and should be given serious consideration for this years' MIP. Westbrook's big night Russell Westbrook was the heartbeat that kept the Thunder in this contest the entire night. With George struggling to score, Westbrook took over the lead role with no issue. He finished with 42 points and he was efficient, too - he shot 16-for-29 from the field (55.2 percent) and 5-for-10 from long range - arguably his most efficient shooting game of the season. He filled up the rest of the box score as usual with 11 rebounds and six assists but was the offensive catalyst OKC needed to have a chance in this one. Aside from George's late outburst and Dennis Schroder's 12 points, Westbrook did nearly all the scoring. His coast-to-coast layup sent the game into overtime and the Thunder went back to him on a game-winning shot attempt but good defence by the Raptors refused to give the All-Star guard a good look. He scored all four of the Thunder's points in the overtime period but seemingly ran out of gas from carrying his squad all game. If Westbrook could shoot close to this efficiency on any given night where his wingman PG also steps up, this team would be near-impossible to stop.<doc-sep>The Raptors nearly let it slip away, but stopped the surging Thunder in overtime to come away with a 123-114 victory The Toronto Raptors almost let this one get away. They allowed the Oklahoma City Thunder to make a late push and send the game into overtime. The Raptors held off OKC in OT to come away with the victory. If you missed any of the action, we had you covered with live updates throughout the game below! Toronto Raptors at Oklahoma City Thunder Preview | Box score | Play-by-play Final: Raptors 123, Thunder 114 12:23 p.m. - Without Paul George in overtime, OKC struggled to score. Their first bucket did not come until there was 30 seconds remaining in the extra period. Kawhi Leonard scored five points in OT to lead the Raptors to victory. End of regulation: Raptors 110, Thunder 110 12:08 a.m. - We're headed to overtime. Paul George scored nine straight points for OKC before a Russell Westbrook fastbreak layup tied the game. Pascal Siakam was called for an offensive foul on a game-winning shot attempt and Westbrook missed a tough bid at the buzzer. George has fouled out of the contest. 12:00 a.m. - The Thunder have made one final push in this one. They trail 110-105 with the ball with 45.0 seconds to go. Paul George has scored six straight points for his team to keep OKC alive. 11:53 p.m. - Any time the Thunder start to make progress in starting a comeback the Raptors have had an answer. Russell Westbrook drained a 3-pointer to make it an eight point game, but four straight points from Pascal Siakam give Toronto a 104-92 lead with just under five minutes remaining. 11:44 p.m. - OKC began to cut into the Raptors lead but a timely Fred VanVleet 3-pointer put the Raptors back in control. They lead 100-89 with 6:47 to go in the game. End of third quarter: Raptors 92, Thunder 78 11:30 p.m. - The Raptors lead the Thunder 92-78 after three quarters. It's a balanced scoring attack from the Raptors' starting unit - Pascal Siakam (23 points), Danny Green (17 points), Fred VanVleet (16 points) and Kawhi Leonard (15 points) are all in double figures. They're shooting extremely well from both the field (57.9 percent) and the beyond the arc (54.2 percent). Russell Westbrook has a game-high 30 points, doing his best to keep OKC in the game. Leonard is doing a fantastic job defending Paul George, who has just 10 points on the night. 11:03 p.m. - The Raptors go on an 8-0 run in the first minute and 22 seconds of the second half to expand their lead to 71-55. A Marc Gasol 3-pointer, followed by a Kawhi Leonard bucket and a Danny Green three sparked the run. Halftime: Raptors 63, Thunder 55 10:44 p.m. - Toronto leads OKC 63-55 in a high scoring first half. Pascal Siakam leads all scores with 17 points on just 12 shots. Fred VanVleet and Kawhi Leonard both have 11 points in the half. Russell Westbrook has been a bully in this game so far, he has a team-high 16 points. The Thunder had a chance to cut into the Raptors lead when Dennis Schroder buried a 3-pointer at the buzzer but the referees waived it off as the shot did not leave his hands in time. 10:25 p.m. - The Raptors are still having no issues scoring the ball. Kawhi Leonard has five quick points in the quarter to give his team a 49-38 lead with seven minutes remaining in the half. End of first quarter: Raptors 39, Thunder 31 10:13 p.m. - Toronto leads 39-31 after one quarter. Pascal Siakam is filling it up early with 10 points, five rebounds and two assists and the Raptors shot 70.0 percent for the quarter. Paul George has eight points to go with Russell Westbrook's nine to lead the Thunder. Dribble Dribble Cross Cross Bucket - 🌶️ pic.twitter.com/TdKAXxjvSP - Toronto Raptors (@Raptors) March 21, 2019 10:03 p.m. - Danny Green has caught fire burying three 3-pointers giving the Raptors a 24-23 lead with just over three minutes in the quarter. Russell Westbrook continues to attack early to keep OKC close. Russ to the rack! pic.twitter.com/1aJMnfxOrO - OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) March 21, 2019 9:54 p.m. - At the first stoppage in play the Thunder lead the Raptors 13-12. Russell Westbrook (5 points) and Fred VanVleet (4 points) are battling early in this one. Pregame 9:49 p.m. - Before the game's start, the Thunder retired Nick Collison's jersey into the rafters! 9:30 p.m. - The Thunder started their usual starting five of Russell Westbrook, Terrence Ferguson, Paul George, Jerami Grant and Steven Adams. 8:17 p.m. - The Raptors will start Fred VanVleet in place of Kyle Lowry and keep Marc Gasol starting at centre.<doc-sep>
Do the Toronto Raptors have anything left to play for? In a standings sense, it appears not. Three games back of Milwaukee with just 11 games to go, it looks like Toronto is locked into the second seed in the East. In a basketball sense, though, it’d be nice to see the Raptors string some wins together. Lately everything has come in fits and starts — you get thorough, energetic wins over the Knicks, or you get a punch-inducing snoozer against the Cavs. Tonight, the Raptors start a home-and-home against the Oklahoma City Thunder on the road. If you’re someone who wants more from your Toronto basketball team, then it’s a critical matchup for both teams. The Raptors would love to carry a couple games against a quality team; Oklahoma City has been stout defensively all year, and have a Raptor-killer in Paul George and the always fiery Russell Westbrook. From OKC’s perspective, they’re right in the thick of a playoff seeding race, as four teams try to avoid the eighth seed and a first round matchup with the Golden State Warriors. Right now, the Thunder are in sixth, tied with San Antonio and half a game up on Utah and the Clippers, with the top eight seeds all but assured. All they need to decide is the order. Their schedule gets easier after this pair of games against the Raptors, too. There’s no doubt the Thunder will be up for this one, with Memphis, Indiana, Dallas, and the Lakers making up four of their next five games. So, let’s get it going. Only injury updates are that Kyle Lowry will miss another game due to an ankle sprain, while Nerlens Noel will be a game time decision for the Thunder — with optimism that he will play. Here are the details! Where to Watch Sportsnet One, 9:30 PM ET Lineups Toronto - Fred VanVleet, Danny Green, Kawhi Leonard, Pascal Siakam, Marc Gasol Oklahoma City - Russell Westbrook, Terrance Ferguson, Paul George, Jerami Grant, Steven Adams Injuries Toronto - Kyle Lowry (out - ankle) Oklahoma City - Nerlens Noel (game time decision - quad), Andre Roberson (out - knee)