Theme of the night in Toronto? Injuries. Oklahoma City Thunder came into the game with 8 players ready to play, ended the night with only 6 available.
Patrick Patterson had 14 and 8 rebounds starting for the injured Amir Johnson, DeMar DeRozan dropped 16 points on 4-12 shooting and the now 3-1 Toronto Raptors defeated the short-staffed 1-4 Thunder, 100-88. Tyler Hansbrough got 8 of his 12 at the free-throw line and Lou Williams provided a late spark as he scored 9 of his 12 points in the fourth quarter.
Serge Ibaka had 25 points and 11 rebounds for a short-handed Oklahoma City team playing with only 8 players suiting up before tip-off. Reggie Jackson added 13 points and dished out a career-high 14 assists but went down himself in the third quarter, but got back up.
The injury woes were real for OKC tonight. Less than a minute into the second half, forward Perry Jones went down clutching his right knee after colliding with Toronto’s Patrick Patterson. Jones, who banged his knee in Monday’s loss at Brooklyn, had to be helped to the locker room and was unable to return. Then, inexplicably, Thunder guard Sebastian Telfair was ejected with a flagrant-two foul with 1:57 left in the game after he struck Raptors Forward Tyler Hansbrough in the face.
Toronto had its own injury woes on Tuesday. Forward Amir Johnson was sidelined by a sore left ankle, and also is expected to miss Wednesday’s game at Boston. Raptors center Jonas Valanciunas left for an X-ray on his right hand at the start of the second quarter. Seemed to be injury free and he returned midway through the second quarter, wearing a wrap on his hand but then he left again in the last moments of the first half after being accidentally hit in the face by Telfair and started to bleed. JV didn’t return for Toronto.
Also sidelined for Oklahoma City is guard Russell Westbrook, out at least four weeks after undergoing surgery to repair a broken right hand on Saturday. Forwards Kevin Durant (right foot), Mitch McGary (left foot) and Grant Jerrett (left ankle), and guards Anthony Morrow (left knee), and Jeremy Lamb (lower back) have missed all five games this season. Don’t forget Andre Roberson (left foot) was injured on Monday and now Perry Jones III is injured as well.
Full Game Highlights
https://youtu.be/z64f51GnszQ
