Oklahoma City made an attempt at another second-half comeback on Wednesday night, trailing the Raptors by 30 in the second quarter. Although OKC was able to close the gap, Toronto closed the game on an 8-2 run to escape with a 130-121 victory.
Here are three takeaways from the game:
The absence of Steven Adams hurt the Thunder in the paint
Adams played only seven minutes on Wednesday night, scoring just two points and grabbing two rebounds. He was ruled out at halftime with a right knee contusion, although no additional information about how the injury occurred was given.
Steven Adams (right knee contusion) is out for the rest of the game, per the Thunder.
— Joe Mussatto (@joe_mussatto) January 16, 2020
Mike Muscala played well in extended minutes, scoring 17 points and pulling down four boards, but without Adams or Nerlens Noel, who is still sidelined with an ankle sprain, the Raptors dominated the points in the paint, 62-48.
Mike Muscala's got 3 three's and 12 points this half 🙌 pic.twitter.com/tA9L00rXfE
— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) January 16, 2020
Oklahoma City was excellent from the free-throw line
The Thunder are one of the best in the league from the charity stripe, but on Wednesday they were the best, hitting a league-high 95% of their free-throw attempts.
For the season, OKC is fifth in free-throw percentage, making 79.8% of their attempts from the line.
Dennis Schroder continues to make case for Sixth Man of the Year
Dennis Schroder once again came off the bench to score a game-high 25. He hit 10-of-17 from the floor and five of his 10 attempts from beyond the three-point line. He also pulled down three rebounds, dished out six assists, and created two of OKC’s league-best 14 steals on Wednesday night.