TAMPA, Fla. – Chris Boucher scored seven of his game-high 31 Points in a 52-second stretch late in the fourth quarter as the spurt pushed the Toronto Raptors to a 112-106 win over Oklahoma City in Amalie Arena Sunday evening.
Boucher iced the win with a three from the left wing when Gary Trent, Jr., beat his man off the dribble and kicked it to Boucher, who hit his sixth three of the game to give the Raptirs a 110-104 lead with 11.2 seconds remaining.`
Oklahoma City took the lead at 15-13 on a Luguentz Dort three with 5;37 remaining in the first quarter and didn’t relinquished it until Freddie Gillespie closed the third quarter with a dunk that gave Toronto an 81-80 lead after three.
The first quarter looked like it was going to be a shootout between OKC’s Dort and Toronto’s Boucher. Dort scored 21 points as he was 7-of-7 from the floor with five threes. Boucher had 17 points and six rebounds in the first frame.
Three Stars of the Game:
1 – Chris Boucher (31/12/2) – Boucher’s clutch output and his three-point prowess are two reasons why the Raptors will keep him around. He’s growing as a take-charge guy and a team leader as he scored 12 points in a row for the Raptors in the first period.
2 – Lugentz Dort (29/4/2) – Dort seemed to lose his rhythm after he went out of the game at the end of the first quarter. He never strung anything together after his perfect first quarter as he was 5-fo-5 from three in accentuating a Thunder three-point effort that went 9-for-15 as OKC led 31-28 after one.
3 – Gary Trent, Jr. – (23/5/5 steals) – A great pick up for the Raptors as he is a scrappy player on both ends of the floor and doesn’t mind getting on the floor and coming up with those 50-50 balls. Trent hit back-to-back threes out of halftime to cut the deficit to 62-58 early in the third quarter.
It was over when: Boucher went on his last personal 10-point surge that lifted the Raptors to the win. The Thunder’s Theo Maledon converted n one-and-one with 4:08 remaining and then Boucher went to work with a pair of triples, a layup and three free throws after he was fouled on a three-point shot.
Thunder Thought: Oklahoma City has a young roster and coach Mark Daigneault has a solid fast break system and offense that encompasses the shooting skills and the length of this team. There are 14 players on this roster with three or fewer years of experience as the makings of a solid team in OKC are well underway.
It’s a Rap’: The Raptors moved into the 10th slot in the Eastern Conference with the win as they are on the fringe of the play-in game. It’s interesting how the younger players on this team have pushed them into that position with Kyle Lowry out and then OG Anunoby, Fred VanVleet and Pascal Siakam all nursing injuries.
