Oklahoma City (51-22) at Toronto (49-23)
When: Monday, March 28th 2016
Where: Air Canada Centre, Toronto, Ontario
Time: 7:35 ET | TV: FSN Oklahoma, Sportsnet One
Two teams firmly in the playoffs will meet Monday night in Toronto as the Raptors host the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Raptors bounced back from losses at Houston and Boston by beating up on the New Orleans Pelicans 115-91 to end their three-game road trip at 1-2. Toronto is still 2.5 games back of Cleveland for the top spot in the Eastern Conference, but are six games clear of third place Atlanta. The Raptors shot 53.4% from the field against New Orleans as All-Star DeMar DeRozan led the way with 23 points on 9-of-11 shooting. DeRozan drew a pair of technical fouls and was ejected with three minutes remaining in the 112-109 loss to the Rockets on Friday. Seven Raptors scored in double-figures against the Pelicans and the bench scored 44 points led by Patrick Patterson’s 16 in just over 19 minutes – tied for the second highest output of the season. He is averaging 13.5 points on 10-of-14 shooting in two games since returning from an ankle injury. Toronto earned a 103-98 win at Oklahoma City on November 4th behind 28 points from DeRozan.
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The Thunder are on a roll winning seven straight and scoring at least 111 points in all of those contests and averaging 117. They thumped the San Antonio Spurs 111-92 on Saturday night, but the Spurs rested almost all their stars in that game. Still, Oklahoma City didn’t let up and Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant continue to pour in the points. Durant had 31 points and 10 boards, while Westbrook had 29 points, 8 assists, and 6 rebounds. Durant is shooting 58.1% over his last five games. Enes Kanter had 20 points and 10 rebounds and has recorded a double-double off the bench in six of the last nine games. The Thunder sit comfortably in the third spot in the Western Conference with really no way of reaching two or dropping to four. The Thunder have already clinched the Northwest Division and are 13.5 games clear of Portland in the division.
Toronto has a little more motivation for this game as Oklahoma City is just playing out the stretch and trying to stay healthy. The Raptors are getting points at home where they are 28-8 overall.
Pick: Raptors +2.5
