Quick Reaction: Thunder 119, Raptors 100

Take the slowest guy you ever known, shackle their legs together and attach a 90 pound rock on their back, then ask them to make a rotation. That’s what Scola looked like today against Ibaka and the ever-so-agile Adams. Didn’t help that his coach is about an hour late in recognizing that this isn’t the game for him. My favorite moment was when Westbrook blasted by him as he tried to defend in transition.

They went to him early against Adams and he was indecisive as ever, opting to hesitate, execute what looked like a dribble and then throw a pass back out to the wing which barely trickled through because he was going backward while passing. He did fare better on the offensive glass but who really gives a shit in a blowout.

Yeah, he’s nowhere close to Westbrook-level. Lowry looks slow, tried, and his legs aren’t in his shots, yet despite all that he remained our best option for points because he’s the only one who can generate something out of nothing, and we had nothing going on. Still played 36 minutes in a blowout. We just don’t learn.

Do you enjoy DeRozan running into four defenders and throwing an awkward pass back out to Biyombo? If so, this game was for you. They iced him on the screens, didn’t concede fouls by keeping their arms straight on his pump-fakes, and cut off all passing lanes (which is easy in an offense that doesn’t move without the ball). They sagged off of him and since he doesn’t have a three, he played right into their hands trying to do too much and failed.

The Thunder had no problem leaving him open, and when they did, he knocked down a couple threes and missed a lot more. Worst of all, the spacing on the floor was so poor that even when he drove he was running into his own teammates (since he receives the ball off of a half-ass drive and that player stays put after the pass killing the spacing). Some nice shots, though. When’s Carroll coming back?

Could’ve used him much earlier when Scola was getting crushed.

Threw a terrible pass in the backcourt which was picked off much to the disbelief of even the Thunder. The Thunder didn’t come within 8 feet of him on the perimeter and with good reason. Defensively, he’s not nearly as active as a man of his limited talents should be, and I dare say he’s got a touch of laziness about him while being apathetic of his status with the team since he’s off in the summer.

I dig the threes, but he’s got to do more. With Ross out and our starting frontline rendered useless, you needed some help from your best scorer off the bench and he didn’t contribute nearly enough. His drive game reminds me of a YouTube video that’s heavily buffering.

We found Waldo.

Only one to play any defense on the night and got rewarded with a couple blocks (had a lot of contests), and was the key reason of our good play in the second quarter. Unfortunately, by the time Casey put him back in the third, the game was out of reach.

He couldn’t have been any worse than Lowry or Joseph checking Westbrook, guess we’ll never know.

Much like he did against Schroeder a couple weeks ago, tried to play aggressive against Westbrook who burned him with ease. His pick ‘n roll partners weren’t cutting it tonight, and the Thunder blocking all passing lanes effectively meant that when he did drive, he just pulled it back out, chewing up more time off the clock before passing it to DeRozan for a painful drive.

Horrible game management regarding Scola/JV. It became apparent early that they weren’t meant for this game, yet he chose to stick with them for way too long in the third, while OKC pulled away. It’s this sort of late reaction to in-game situations that scares the hell out of me. Even if you accept that the Thunder are the more talented team, they still move the ball, space the court, and are in greater sync with each other than the Raptors. Our offense looked laborious and our defense had no answer to their quick thinking and early shot-clock attacks. Also, way to log minutes for your two All-Stars in a blowout.