- Oklahoma City Thunder (16-5) at Toronto Raptors (7-15)
- When: Thursday, 05 December 2024 at 6:30pm CST
- Where: Scotiabank Arena, Toronto, Ontario
- Offensive Rating – TOR: 112.0 (18th) / OKC: 114.7 (8th)
- Defensive Rating – TOR: 115.0 (22nd) / OKC: 103.9 (1st)
- Net Rating – TOR: -3.0 (20th) / OKC: 10.8 (1st)
The Set-Up
When I look at the Toronto Raptors, I get a sense of Deja Vu. It’s almost like the Thunder can look at the Raptors and question whether they’ve seen this movie before. A team that had a good run of it (hell, even got a championship out of their window) and then decided they needed to switch into rebuild mode. To make it even more similar, they hired themselves a coach that used to coach the Thunder’s G-League team and was an assistant with the Thunder for several years in Darko Rajakovic. In addition, they decided to stack their cupboard with young players and assets. Sound familiar yet? Well, how about this last little tidbit? The rebuilding Toronto Raptors play hard every game…kind of like the Thunder did when they were coming up several years ago. To the point where, in the East, they may be, dare I say, too good to tank. Even though they are sitting eight games under .500, they are just a game and a half out of the 10th spot in their conference. The Raptors may be rebuilding, but this won’t be an easy game.
This is the first of two meetings this year between these two teams. The Thunder have won 3 of the last 4 meetings dating back to the 2022-23 season.
Betting Info
- Line: OKC -9.5
- O/U: 226.5
Injury Report
OKC
- Ousmane Dieng – OUT (finger)
- Alex Ducas – OUT (hip)
- Chet Holmgren – OUT (hip)
- Nikola Topic – OUT (knee)
- Jaylin Williams – OUT (hamstring)
TOR
- D.J. Carton – GTD (ankle)
- Ulrich Chomche – GTD (illness)
- Gradey Dick – GTD (calf)
- Kelly Olynyk – OUT (back)
- Jakob Poeltl – GTD (illness)
Three Big Things
- Manning The Middle – The Raptors lead the league in points in the paint and are last in the league in percentage of points from the 3-point line. This plays heavily into the Thunder’s defensive plan of attack, as they like to sink in to protect the paint, while flying out to contest 3-point shots. But it’s the Thunder, so you know someone on the Raptors who has struggled shooting from deep has a high possibility of breaking out in this game (here’s looking at Davion Mitchell and his 27.8% 3-point shooting percentage).Β
- Rebounding – If there is one place where the Raptors may stay in the game with the Thunder, its on the boards. The Raptors are 2nd in the league in rebounding, 4th in total rebounds, 1st in Offensive Rebound percentage, and 3rd in 2nd chance points. Jakob Poeltl and the big wings of Scottie Barnes and RJ Barrett do a good job of cleaning up the glass. If there is anything that galvanizes a young team, especially at home, it’s usually 2nd chance points. Hopefully, the Thunder can withstand the minutes where Isaiah Hartenstein is not on the floor.Β
- Homecoming – It’s always a fun time when Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Lu Dort return back to their home country and show out. It’s even provided SGA with an avenue to breakout his new signature logo as the face of Converse.Β