NBA on March 22: OKC shoot down Raptors with 20 three-pointers

The Oklahoma City Thunder got their revenge on the Toronto Raptors with a 116-109 victory at the Scotiabank Arena on Friday. The Houston Rockets defeated the visiting San Antonio Spurs 115-106 at the Toyota Center. Meanwhile, the Brooklyn Nets claimed a 111-106 win against the Los Angeles Lakers at the Staples Center, eliminating the last theoretical hope of the purple and gold for the playoffs this season.

Do your job, and you will win

Paul George #13 of the Oklahoma City Thunder defends Kawhi Leonard #2 of the Toronto Raptors in the game at the Scotiabank Arena, March 22, 2019. /VCG Photo

Paul George scored the highest 28 points for Oklahoma City while Dennis Schroder from the bench contributed the second-most 26 points. Russell Westbrook took a triple-double of 18 points, 12 rebounds and 13 assists. Jerami Grant and Terrance Ferguson had respectively 19 and 11 points.

Kawhi Leonard shot down the court's highest 37 points for Toronto. Pascal Siakam dropped 25 points by making nine of his 14 shots. Danny Green buried six three-pointers to get 19, and Serge Ibaka scored 11 points from the bench.

Dennis Schroder of the Thunder shoots in the game against the Raptors, March 22, 2019. /VCG Photo

The Thunder did two things right to win this game. In offense, they sank 20 three-pointers, the most this season since the 2019 NBA All-Star Game. In defense, they managed to limit the Raptors' early-offense-points to eight while forcing the opponent to commit as many as 21 turnovers. Schroder made key contributions to OKC's win, especially in the fourth quarter when he claimed 12 points to help his team stand up to Toronto's counterattacks.

As for the Raptors, this home loss again revealed one of the team's biggest problems: they had no reliable scorer except Leonard. The 2014 FMVP did everything he could by making four of his five three-pointers, earning 10 free throws and sinking nine of them. However, the team must have someone else stand out when the opponent focused their best defense on Leonard.

Harden dominates the game

James Harden #13 of the Houston Rockets in the game they win against the San Antonio Spurs 111-105 at the Toyota Center, March 22, 2019. /VCG Photo

James Harden again claimed season-high 61 points for Houston, including 27 in the first quarter. Chris Paul had 18, and Eric Gordon got 12 points, making them the other two of the team that scored. Clint Capela and P.J. Tucker grabbed respectively 16 and 10 rebounds.

Bryn Forbes scored San Antonio's most 20 points, while Derrick White, DeMar DeRozan and LaMarcus Aldridge from the first-lineup had 18, 16 and 10 points individually. Marco Belinelli got 11 points off the bench.

Harden #13 of the Rockets shoots a three-pointer in the game against the Spurs, March 22, 2019. /VCG Photo

Harden again showed the league why he's never to be underestimated when people talked about who should be the NBA MVP this season. He outscored the Spurs' whole team in the first quarter (27-24). When San Antonio gained the lead 100-94 with less than five minutes to go in the game, Harden stood out again and launched a 13-2 run by himself including burying three straight shots from the three-point line to help the Rockets regained the lead by five (107-102).

However, Friday's victory at home also exposed how terrible the rest of Houston were. It took Gordon 13 shots to get 12 points. Tucker shot in total three times, all from the three-point line and missed all of them. Danuel House Jr., Iman Shumpert and Gerald Green together made two of their 10 shots. No wonder as such an intimidating threat in the offense as he was, Harden only delivered one assist in the game.

As for the Spurs, they should start looking for new cornerstone players because DeRozan is definitely not their guy. While Harden enjoyed his scoring buffet in the last four minutes of Q4, all DeRozan did was getting two points, committing one offensive foul and missing four shots.

Lakers say goodbye to playoffs

LeBron James of the Los Angele Lakers in the game they lose to the Brooklyn Nets 111-106 at the Staples Center, March 22, 2019. /VCG Photo

Brooklyn Nets saw six of their players score double-digit points. Joe Harris and D'Angelo Russell had respectively 26 and 21 points. DeMarre Carroll and Spencer Dinwiddie got 15 and 19 points. Jarrett Allen and Ed Davis both had double-double of individually 13 points+11 rebounds and 14 points+15 rebounds.

JaVale McGee dropped a big double-double of 33 points+20 rebounds for Los Angeles by making 15 of 20 shots while delivering six blocks. LeBron James missed one rebound for a triple-double with 25 points, nine rebounds and 14 assists. Kyle Kuzma and Alex Caruso contributed respectively 18 and 10 points.

James will miss the NBA playoffs for the first time in 14 years. /VCG Photo

Missing the playoffs was neither new nor a big deal for the Lakers since that's what they had been doing in the five consecutive previous seasons. However, it's something new for James who had to kiss goodbye to his records of entering the playoffs for 13 straight years and making the Finals for nine years.

The other guy who should be embarrassed by this home loss is Magic Johnson, the Lakers' president of basketball operations. Since he took over in 2017, he traded Lou Williams who could score 20+points for the Los Angeles Clippers, sent away Russell who played his first All-Star Game this season and dropped 20 points+13 assists in Friday's game, did not keep Brook Lopez, who helped make the Milwaukee Bucks the league's best team in defense and 3-pt and chose not to match the offer by the New Orleans Pelicans for Julius Randle who was also playing a 20+point season.

Other games on Friday included: (away teams come first)

Memphis Grizzlies 119-123 Orlando Magic

Los Angeles Clippers 110-108 Cleveland Cavaliers

Denver Nuggets 111-93 New York Knicks

Miami Heat 87-116 Milwaukee Bucks